The Wolf Amongst The Sheep
by Rialga
Summary: It's been centuries since the shinobi age ended. But the world is still far from peaceful. New beings make their appearance, forcing old warriors out of hiding. And it's up to Naruto, once known as Fenrir, and his friends to help the students of Beacon Academy fight them off. Will they succeed? Only time will tell. Warning: god-like Naruto. Summary, rating, title subject to change.
1. Prologue

I'm back people! Sorry for having to be gone for about a month (I think; losing track of my days here), but I'm back from all of my first exams and it's now high time I got the ball rolling for my new fanfic!

On that particular note, with my poll now over, here's the results: God-like Naruto story:** 7 votes. **Naruto/RWBY crossover:** 7 votes. **Reimagining of HOTD:** 7 votes.** As for the other choices I put up, they all got 0, save for the Labeling a Devil sequel, which got **1.**

That said, because of the unexpected three way tie, I had to seriously think on what to do and I've ultimately reached a conclusion: my truly sincerest apologies HOTD voters, but I am going to have to put that HOTD overhaul on hold for perhaps a later time. As for the remaining two tiers – the God-like Naruto story and the Naruto/RWBY crossover – I also did some more deliberation on that and I've reached a compromise on it: I decided to combine the two ideas into one!

And so this fic will be just that: a Naruto/RWBY crossover featuring a god-like Naruto. And as you will very quickly discover, this fic is actually none other than a sequel to my previous fic. Yes, that's right, this fic will be a sequel to The God Slaying Wolf!

Now, on another note concerning this new fic, if any of you are now worried that Naruto and co. will outshine the RWBY characters, please rest assured that this will not be so. It will take quite some time, but I fully intend to make the main RWBY characters even more badass than they already are in order to deal with… certain events that I already have planned out for this fic. But please keep in mind that this badass-boosting process will. Take. TIME. Just thought you should know all of this in advance.

And now on one final note: updating. For now, this fic will be my main concern, but in due time (possibly a week or so following this being posted), I will be starting a new original story in my free time and I intend to alternate between the two (one chapter for this, one chapter for the OS, one chapter for this, and so on…). And as I am still pretty much in the middle of my college semester and have two essays getting ready to fling themselves into my face, I cannot honestly tell you guys just how often I will be able to update or if it'll be a regular updating schedule at that. But as always, please rest assured knowing that I WILL be posting new chapters whenever I get the first chance to do so.

Sorry for the long AN, but I just have to make sure to keep you all in the loop.

Now without further ado, onto my new fic!

P.S. Once again, to those of you who voted for the HOTD overhaul, I cannot express how sorry I am for not going through with it… but Naruto was pretty much 2 for 1 against HOTD's '1.'

The Wolf Amongst The Sheep Prologue

It was yet another bright and beautiful day at Beacon Academy, where many young men and women went to, aspiring to be hunters and huntresses.

But of course, it was only a bright and beautiful day to those young men and women who were actually enjoying their current class, which most of the team known as team RWBY… weren't.

The members of team RWBY – Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long – were all very much doing different things right now. The leader of the team, Ruby, was simply doing her best not to fall asleep. Weiss, always the more studious one of the group, was actually quite focused on the professor's lecture. Blake was only partially paying attention and so was Yang, who was simply looking outside the nearest window with longing. It was too nice a day to be stuck in a classroom, the sole blond of team RWBY silently felt.

And their professor's lecture wasn't exactly the most riveting thing any of the students have ever heard either; the lecture was on Vale's military force. Now while this should've sounded interesting to them, all week long, the professor has so far only been speaking about basic protocols and the likes – nothing truly interesting just yet.

Their professor knew this. He knew this fact quite well. Hell, even he was bored of this. But he wasn't about to stop just because of something like that. And besides, during lectures like this, he can sometimes do some fun stuff… like what he did just now.

Ruby, now nearly dozing off, was startled badly when the professor, who had been passing her by in the front row, suddenly smacked her empty desk with a rolled up paper, producing a loud 'smack.'

"I know this isn't the most interesting lecture ever, Ms. Rose…" the professor said with a wolfish smile. "But please try not to use it or the fact it's morning as an excuse to sleep."

Ruby, ever the awkward girl, simply chuckled sheepishly. "Sorry professor Namikaze. I'll try to stay awake," she replied, rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment.

The professor, Naruto Namikaze, smiled. "I'll hold you to that," he said before walking back to the front of the classroom.

As he did this, Ruby and a number of other students carefully watched their professor. They were not quite sure what to make of him. Ever since the end of their initiation test and the start of their classes, none of them were sure on how to feel about him in particular.

There were those – mainly girls – who found him to be rather attractive in spite of his seemingly scrawny – they couldn't tell due to his button up shirt being a little on the large size – physique, though he was certainly tall, standing at a few inches over six feet in height. Not to mention he had rather short and spiky blond hair that was positively vibrant in color. Though what threw most people off was the fact that he always had his eyes closed… while wearing glasses. They just didn't know what to make of that at all.

"Seriously…" many students had already thought at some point during this week, "just how does he not bump into things?"

Ultimately though, the rest of the lecture passed by with nothing of note happening, save for Ruby's little 'wake-up' call courtesy of Naruto.

As the class ultimately came to an end and the students left, the blond professor sighed in slight relief. And once the classroom was empty save for himself, Naruto finally decided to loosen up. He'd taken to slightly slouching forward and hunching up his shoulders in order to make himself look less threatening, but it was a killer on his body to be doing that for particularly long periods of time.

"Man, what a day…" he muttered as he took off his glasses and opened his eyes to reveal his ocean blue irises. Cracking his neck, he now took a moment to quietly stare out the nearest window. "Wonder how things are going for the others…"

A little later that day, lunch finally came about and students of all years quickly lined up in the cafeteria for a meal. They've quickly come to learn that while their food doesn't look particularly special or otherwise out of the ordinary, it was truly excellent, tasting incredibly delicious.

This was due to the two people that mainly took care of all the cooking. Said two people happened to be working behind the counter where the students received their food trays, bidding hellos to the cooks as they got their meal for the day.

"Next!" Miki now spoke, as yet another student finished getting his tray of food and leaving, though before looking at Miki with just a tad bit of attraction in his eyes.

Currently dressed in an unflatteringly large white long sleeve shirt and apron, Miki Namikaze, happily served food to the students that approached. Though it was still only the first week of the year for the students and staff, the former group had already taken a liking to Miki.

Many found her to be quite attractive, with soft yet mature looks that would often be labeled as either 'pretty' or 'cute,' in spite of her appearing to be in her mid-twenties. Her long brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, combined with her happy and endearing smile, it was easy to see just why she already had such a fan-base in the academy. Her cooking didn't exactly hurt either.

But if she was something of an eye-candy figure for the boys, then her fellow cook was one for the girls. Dressed in similar clothes to Miki, Ryuichi Sumeragi worked just a little ways away, preparing the students' meals with much gusto and speed.

Much like Miki and Naruto, he now appeared to be in his mid-twenties. His hair had slightly grown itself out and his features have become a little sharper since his teen years. He was also taller than before too, standing at just an inch or so shorter than Naruto.

"Here you go…" He then said a minute later as he finished up preparing the next tray, passing it to a female student that blushed at his smile. Watching as the student muttered out a 'thank you' and walked away with her giggling friends, he had to fight down an urge to chuckle at the sight. After all, it was yet another busy day thus far for him and Miki; slacking off for even a second simply wasn't allowed.

And so it was with that, that yet another day passed by.

That is… for the students at least.

For the three once known, albeit unofficially, as team magi, their day may be over, but the night was now only beginning to start.

After the students have all finally headed back to their rooms to sleep, the three magi met up after their long day at work.

"You have no idea how much I've missed you after today…" Naruto said with a smile as he approached Miki. The two of them shared a long kiss immediately after he said that.

Ryuichi, watching this, simply shook his head, but with a smile on his face. "Head back to your room if you plan to go beyond that."

Shooting Ryuichi a playful glare, Naruto and Miki stopped. And so the three of them began to make their way for the headmaster's office. "So how are things as cooks?" Naruto asked as they kept on walking.

"I personally like it; fun to watch the students enjoy our cooking," Ryuichi spoke with a grin.

"Mhm…" Miki agreed. Then she scratched her head a little sheepishly. "Though the two of us could probably do without being hit on…" She chuckled lightly as she recalled a small number of students trying to flirt with either her or Ryuichi, unaware of a number of things about them, namely that they weren't single.

They then took a moment to simply stay silent, enjoying the quiet time and slight breeze that went rushing through the area as they moved about. This held especially true as they were wearing more casual clothes than before.

Naruto was dressed in grey pants and a long sleeve black shirt, with a grey long sleeve button up over it. Around his neck, he still wore the wolf pendant he received a long time ago from Miki. As for Miki, she was no longer dressed in the simple cook wear from earlier; instead she now wore a long white dress with black strings tied beneath her breasts and on the end of the sleeves. Combined with her brown hair that was no longer in a ponytail, Miki, always a pretty girl back when she was younger, was quite stunning to look at. And as for Ryuichi, he wore clothes similar to Naruto, albeit his pants were dark blue while he wore a simple black long sleeve shirt. He also still wore a single black glove on his left hand.

A handful of minutes later, they finally reached their destination: an elevator that then took them up to the top floor of the place.

Knocking lightly on it, Naruto and the others then received a slight mutter of 'come in' and proceeded to do just that.

Sitting in the room was, of course, none other than the headmaster of Beacon Academy himself, Ozpin. "Naruto, Miki, Ryuichi," the man himself greeted, rising from his chair to walk up to them halfway. The three of them mildly noted he was once again drinking coffee. "I hope you've all had a good week."

Naruto simply shrugged. "Could've been worse, could've been better… though I still can't believe you talked me into being a professor here. And on our military of all things," he muttered out with a head shake.

This earned a slight smile from Ozpin, who has known the three people standing before him for many, many years now. It never ceased to amaze him just how young his three comrades looked in spite of their true age.

And in addition to knowing their true age, Ozpin very well knew their 'story,' namely that of a time that predated the current world of Remnant.

More than a few centuries ago, the world now known as Remnant hadn't even existed. Instead, prior to this current time filled with hunters and huntresses and Faunus and the Grimm, the world had instead been filled with people that are now only really mentioned in stories: shinobi. And magi as well.

Following the end of the magical ritual known as Ragnarok, made by Naruto's ancestor Tatsuya in a bid to revive his wife Kiyomi, team magi and their fellow magi had gone on to live rather happy lives following Naruto's defeat of Tatsuya who was then known as Odin. But it hadn't quite remained a peaceful time for them for long; roughly two years following the end of Ragnarok, the organization known as Akatsuki had made its appearance and its goal was to hunt down and capture the jinchuriki.

This had led all of the five major villages to scramble together in order to combat the Akatsuki, said organization being comprised of a number of powerful missing nin. So powerful in fact, that they could very well combat a kage on their own.

A war had ended up erupting when it was later discovered that Kakashi's supposedly dead friend Obito was alive and had tried to masquerade himself as Madara Uchiha. But thanks to the sometimes subtle and other times not so subtle help of their fellow magi, team magi had managed to make a change in the tide of the war, preventing Obito from reviving Madara and weakening him enough to be finished off by a combined attack from Minato and Kakashi, both of whom had felt guilty for how Obito had ultimately turned out.

Given the sheer level of power each of them had possessed by then, any member of team magi, especially Naruto, should've been able to singlehandedly win the entire war on their lonesome. But they had ultimately decided against it, recalling very much what they've learned from their friend Katsumi about the Fimbulvinter War and not wanting to risk a second one possibly starting.

Ozpin, thinking on all of this, could feel himself almost now literally shake his head. For it had been quite some time following the end of this '4th Great Shinobi War' that the age of shinobi eventually began to wind down and eventually disappear altogether, thereby eventually giving rise to the world now known as Remnant as humanity ultimately evolved, chakra transforming into the energy now simply known as aura while the Grimm were formed from offshoots of chakra from the biju that the Akatsuki had been able to capture at one point.

However, Ozpin was roused from his thoughts when Miki suddenly spoke. "You're doing it again…" she said quietly.

"Sorry." Ozpin earnestly apologized. This wasn't the first time he'd thought so deeply on all that he's learned from the three magi. And how could he not? All of this knowledge that he now had on shinobi and magi were not mentioned in any of the history books that had come to be following the rise of the Grimm. He was quite literally one of a few people that knew of the world before Remnant and to have three people from that time period still very much alive and looking in their mid-twenties standing before him… well, even for a hunter of his caliber, it was certainly a mindboggling thing, even after how long he's known them now. "My mind wandering aside, I do apologize for talking you all into working here at the academy."

They simply shrugged it off. "No need to sweat it. We could've easily said no if we had really wanted to," Naruto calmly replied, slowly walking until he now stood just before Ozpin's window. He looked over the academy grounds, taking in the sight.

"And besides," Ryuichi now spoke. He took on a serious expression. "You did say that something was going to eventually happen. Something rather big."

Ozpin nodded. "That's right…"

From before the night he and Glynda had met Ruby, who had tried to take down Roman Torchwick of all people, he had long since been looking into all of the crimes that involved Dust being stolen. Some kind of massive operation that he had most recently come to learn involved Torchwick himself. And in addition to this, further private investigation had yielded some more info: Roman Torchwick may very well not be working alone. It was also implied that the mysterious woman Glynda had briefly done battle with had a hand in all of this too. Dust, while an abundant substance if one knew just where to look, was highly dangerous if mishandled. But in the hands of dangerous criminals like Torchwick and this mysterious woman? Both of whom would most definitely be using such a vast amount of stolen Dust for their own uses? Clearly there was something big going on and it was this info that Ozpin had shared with the three magi and had been what prompted them to come here to Beacon in the first place.

"The calm before the storm…" Ryuichi muttered, mulling over all of this. "That's what it feels like now."

"Yeah," Miki agreed with her longtime friend, folding her arms beneath her bust. "There's definitely something else going on here with these Dust robberies."

Indeed, she, her husband, and best friends have been just a little on edge lately. They have yet to truly share their exact thoughts with Ozpin or anyone else, but they could sense that there was much more to all of this than what the headmaster of Beacon has learned thus far. Something that, dare they even say it, could possibly be related to magi. But this was simply a feeling and nothing more for the time being. They couldn't actually be sure just yet.

Naruto then sighed. Turning around to face Ozpin, he scratched his head in slight annoyance. "Looks like we'll have our hands full for a while, at any rate. Especially since I'm getting the feeling that your students could end up getting involved in this entire mess."

Ozpin nodded, sipping his coffee. "Yes. I'd much rather that not be the case though."

"Well, like we told you when you first talked us into this… we'll do our best to watch over things here," Naruto then replied. "But even with our level of power and experience, there's no telling just what could happen… not to mention having to pretty much stay hidden like this…" He sighed yet again.

As magi, they lacked the ability to use the ninjutsu once used by shinobi and as such throughout the centuries they've lived thanks to their extended lifespans as magi, they've had to resort to other means of making sure no one quite caught onto them never quite aging and the likes. This was partially why he tried to make himself look smaller and frailer than he is. However, the main reason why he did so was because long ago he had discovered that thanks to the vast amount of power he had gained from defeating Tatsuya his presence had become quite 'heavy.' There were often times where people simply were unable to be around him without feeling like they're being crushed, at least whenever he unconsciously was letting out a tad bit of his mana. But through many years of self-discipline and playing the part of a semi-scrawny and somewhat odd looking young man, he was able to keep people from noticing anything truly off about his 'presence.'

"I know." Ozpin clasped him on the shoulder. "And I appreciate all the trouble you're going through. But I'm sure that overtime you three may very well come to truly enjoy your time here at Beacon."

That got a slight chuckle out of the three magi. "Only time will tell," Miki said.

Nodding, Ozpin took another sip of his coffee. And then, for the first time in a long time for him, he sported a look of surprise. "…It just occurred to me, but where's Hanako at?" He asked this with only the mildest of tones, looking around slightly for Naruto's humanoid magical weapon.

The blond magus just chuckled. "Still sleeping in the room," he answered. He shook his head. "Even after all these years, she's still as lively as ever."

Indeed, Hanako approached things nowadays with the same level of enthusiasm and wonder that she did back when she was first ever summoned. She had spent the better part of this past week simply fawning over everything that Vale and Beacon had to offer and did so, amazingly enough, without any of the students spotting her. It was because of this that she was then left tired enough to sleep all day back in the room provided for them by Ozpin.

"Ah." Ozpin actually smirked a little. "That does sound like her."

"Mhm…" Naruto then fell silent. So did everyone else. Eventually, he did sigh. "Well, we just came by to check in with you is all. I think it's about time we call this a night."

Ozpin nodded as the three magi made way to the door. "Of course. Good night." He watched as the three returned the farewell gesture. It wasn't until they left and were out of earshot that he sighed tiredly.

Heading back to his chair and sitting for the time being, he couldn't quite help but feel just a little worried over things. Even with Naruto, Miki, and Ryuichi here… he too couldn't shake the feeling that soon enough things were going to seriously changed.

And he had the stinking suspicion that his students would be caught up in the middle of it all.

* * *

><p>And that's a wrap for this prologue! So what did you think everyone? Bet you didn't see the whole 'centuries have past…' part. And you can expect such a fact to play an larger role in the grand scheme of this fic.<p>

You can also expect to see some returning characters from the previous fic as well. And on that note, please forgive me if any RWBY characters (who will be getting more screen-time in the coming chapters) seem slightly OOC. I've never quite worked with personalities as straightforward yet diverse as theirs, but I'll do my best to keep them spot on to their canon selves.

And on one last note, you can definitely expect this to not be the end of the 'explanation' as to what's been going on these past few centuries in story… over the course of the story I'll be revealing more of what's come to pass over team magi's lifespans.

Please look forward to it.

And once again, due to me being smack in the middle of my semester and my other story (the original one) that I'll be starting soon, I can't say exactly when I'll be able to get the next chapter out… but I will do my best to make sure it doesn't take me too long to do.

Hopefully until next time everyone. Take care!


	2. Chapter 1

Wow! Can't believe how many views, reviews, favorites, and follows I got just for the prologue alone! I'm glad that you all found it interesting! And now it is my hope to make this fic just as entertaining as the previous one. Oh boy, do I have surprises in store for all of you.

That said, unlike the God Slaying Wolf where I introduced the whole premise of Ragnarok and its rules in the 1st chapter, things will be progressing a little more slowly in this fic at first. Given all of the characters involved, this slower pacing is meant to ensure that everyone gets a moment or two to show some personality and the likes.

That also said, once again my semester marches on. No idea how things will go, but as always, I'll make sure to try and keep a regular writing schedule.

Now onto the chapter!

Chapter 1

Roman Torchwick considered himself to be a smart guy, as well as strong. After all, one doesn't get to be as renown a criminal as him by being stupid or weak.

And yet, he had spent the better part of the past week as well as last night trying not to be so stumped. Crime was his business, his enterprise, his way of life. But stealing Dust, no matter how large in quantity, had never been his thing until meeting up with his current business 'partner' of a sorts: Cinder Fall.

"Tch, what a scary lady…" he muttered upon thinking of her.

It had all started out relatively simple. The black haired woman in red had approached him a while back, looking for his help in a little 'operation' of hers…. The thing is, in a startlingly brief amount of time, Roman had found himself all but serving as her henchman in all but name. And to this day, he still knew next to nothing about what her plan entailed. He was very much in the dark and it was something that he despised.

And in all honesty, he was growing sick of it. It was enough as it is working with Cinder and her other two lackeys, that grey haired punk and green haired thief. But then he had found himself working with members of the White Fang of all people too! Now, he didn't hate Faunus – not entirely at any rate – but being forced to work with them in any capacity was something that left him feeling just a little miffed. That this all too was part of Cinder's plan was something else that just ticked him off.

"Should I just cut my losses?" he questioned aloud, reaching for a cigar.

"Oh I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Roman all but froze, damn near dropping his cigar as he readied to put it in his mouth. Turning around, he spotted Cinder herself walking through the door of their little hidey-hole right now.

Cinder, in spite of her beauty, gave off a dangerous vibe, the kind that damn near had Roman on edge and ready to flee if she started swinging. He knew he was a good fighter and all, but Cinder was a cut above him. And given the sort of resources she had at her disposal, Roman would rather not be on the receiving end of it.

"What's the matter, Roman? Already tired of hanging around me?" Cinder asked playfully.

Roman's right eyebrow twitched. He never did quite like how overconfident she sounded, his fear of her be damned. "Maybe. Maybe not," he retorted, now composing himself and putting the cigar in his mouth. "I'd definitely feel a lot better if you'd ever actually tell me why we're going through all of this trouble. Especially now since we may have hunters and huntresses on our tail…" The criminal thought back to his encounter with Ruby and how she had been saved in the nick of time by Glynda. He was no fool; he recognized a huntress when he saw one. Especially since in her brief battle with Cinder, the two of them had seemingly been evenly matched.

Seeing him begin to reach for his lighter, Cinder reached out with her hand, stopping him. And then her eyes glowed fiercely as she called upon the power of her flames. With deliberate slowness and ease, she lit Roman's cigar for him. As she did, she chuckled lightly. "Don't tell me that you're afraid of a few hunters and huntresses…" she mocked.

"Hardly. But it will make things harder." Roman could only roll his eyes. He gave his cane a little twirl as he began to pace about. "Stealing all of this Dust for you isn't the easiest thing in the world, you know. And if they get on our case, that only makes things much harder."

"Have some faith in me, Roman; I'll get things done… but at my own pace." Cinder smiled mysteriously as she spoke those words. "And as for my plan… don't worry. Soon enough… soon enough I'll let you in on it."

Roman puffed out some smoke. Holding his cigar in his hand, he pointed it at Cinder. "Right. Well, I plan on holding you to that." He then began to head for the door. "I'm heading out now. Gotta get some sleep."

Cinder watched in silence as he left. And once he was fully out of earshot, she laughed a little.

Really now, Roman's attitude towards her… oh well, it mattered little. While his skills certainly proved invaluable to her, it'd only be a matter of time until he became expendable. And as for him finding out about her plan, well, that wasn't going to happen.

And thinking of her plan, Cinder was honestly amazed at how things were progressing. All of the experiments were going well enough, but much more still had to be done. And in order to ensure that things would go well, more Dust will ultimately be needed.

"Looks like we'll need to get some more in another week or so…" Cinder pondered, thinking over things.

Thinking on the particular threats to her plan, there wasn't much to genuinely fear. At least from the hunters and huntresses. Oh sure, she found them impressive and everything, but they could still be overcome easily enough. Especially if academies such as Beacon were dumb enough to send out the younger ones to try and take on her little underlings. No, the people that genuinely worried her… were the magi.

Yes, she was very much aware of their existence. She knew the kind of power that a single magus could possess, the kind of unique abilities that one could unleash. Magi were heads and shoulders above hunters and huntresses. She should know; her master was one – a magus.

He had entrusted her with a certain task and that's exactly what she plans on doing: completing it. And while he gave her a good deal of leeway in how to go about it, she knew that sooner or later her master would lose his patience. That wouldn't be good for her or anyone else. She should count herself lucky that for the time being he was too focused on arming the others… still, she shouldn't remain idle for too long.

"I guess, just to be on the safe side, we'll have to move the schedule up a little…" Cinder thought to herself.

Despite the difficulties that undoubtedly would accompany her task, she couldn't help but look forward to it. "Show me what you got… magi of Beacon."

The next week, one Weiss Schnee sat quietly in the classroom of her next class. She was alone as the rest of her team was out in the cafeteria, still very much enjoying their lunch from those two cooks Ryuichi and Miki.

She let out a very longstanding sigh. Today wasn't exactly a great day for her. It wasn't a bad day by any stretch of the term, but it wasn't a particularly great day either. This was mainly because she was still thinking over her new team.

It's been a whole week since the initiation has come and gone and during that first week of actual classes, she's had to put up with quite a bit. From having to furnish their dorm room in the early morning before class, to trying to take class seriously while her teammates didn't to simply having to put up with their quirks… well, Weiss was feeling more than a little tired.

Oh sure, she had talked with one of her professors, Peter Port, about it and had received a brief yet enlightening speech from him… but still, she was finding herself hard-pressed to fully adjust to team RWBY; their personalities, from Ruby's adorkability and social awkwardness to Blake's calm and enigmatic nature to Yang's lively and outgoing attitude, were taking their toll on her as they clashed with her more reserved personality.

"Those three can be such a headache…" she muttered, quietly looking over her class notes, having already finished her lunch and having nothing better to do for now.

"Something troubling you, Ms. Schnee?"

She nearly fell out of her chair from surprise at the sudden new voice. Looking towards the door, she spotted who had just spoken.

Entering the classroom was none other than Naruto, who was once again in his little 'disguise.' Although Weiss couldn't tell, he was feeling a little annoyed; looks like the past week of hunching up his shoulders like this was finally taking its toll on him, causing him to feel just a little achy right now.

"Professor Namikaze? What are you doing here?" Weiss asked. His class was always in the early morning, so needless to say that it's already come and gone for the day. She knew that he did teach class at other times for the 2nd and 3rd years, but even then, he taught no class in this particular room.

"Just enjoying the view," he replied, motioning towards the window. This classroom was one of several that had a great view of the land beyond Beacon Academy and thus was one he favored whenever he didn't have to deal with anything else during lunch. He'd be with Miki, but she was on duty as a cook still. Hanging out with Ryuichi was also a no-go for the same reason. And Hanako had once again gone looking around the academy and he had no real amount of time to go looking for her. So this was really his only choice. He couldn't help but take a brief second to marvel at how quickly he had established a routine here in Beacon. Nonetheless, he still focused on Weiss. "And my question?"

Weiss blushed in embarrassment, realizing that she had just bluntly asked her professor his reason for being here instead of answering his question. "Ah… well, it's just my team, professor."

"Hm… team RWBY, right?" he asked for confirmation, walking up to the window. As he did so, Weiss could only look at him in confusion, realizing he still had his eyes closed. Why or how is he even looking at the view offered from here?

"Yes, that's right." Weiss' answer was succinct and quick, but still she couldn't help but continue to talk. "Well, I've already spoken with professor Port over it."

"And yet whatever the problem is, it's still bothering you." It wasn't a question, but rather a statement on Naruto's part.

The Schnee heiress nearly flinched at his words. The professor had hit it right on the head. "In a way," she said a little curtly. "It's just a little hard to fit in with them. Our personalities… kind of clash."

Naruto nodded his head. Listening to Weiss' words, he thought back to his much younger days, back when he had still been a teenager. He recalled his days as a genin and the interactions he had had with his fellow genin. Especially his sister Reiko, who had long since joined the dearly departed. Thankfully by way of natural means, not some sudden and painful death in combat. That said, it still kind of hurt to think of her. After having repaired the bond with her and his parents, Naruto had grown very close to them all, making their deaths of old age rather painful as they weren't magi. It had hurt a little more when he had eventually had to reveal to them the truth of what he truly is after they had noticed him not aging upon hitting his mid-20s. But even then, they had taken his – and the rest of team magi by extension – secret in complete stride and had done their best to uphold the secret from others too. Ultimately, it had made their passing all the more painful as he continued to live on, but he was all the stronger for it; even after revealing his magus status to them, they had still loved him dearly and he would hold that love within him until the end of his own life and beyond.

It was with all that in mind that he spoke. "You know, when I was younger, I went through something similar, Ms. Schnee."

"Really?" Weiss perked up at those words, having not honestly expected to hear that. Intellectually, she knew that she had never been the only one to go through something like this, but to hear of it was something new.

Naruto nodded. He now turned around, facing her. "Yep. I'll spar you a lot of the details, but there were a handful of people that I didn't exactly 'click' with. But overtime as I got to know them, I was able to get along with them pretty well. I'd go as far as to say that they became good friends of mine." Then he smiled softly. "And one person I couldn't get along with… was my own twin sister too."

He watched in silence for a moment as he saw Weiss react, surprise on her face. "Yeah, she was always a pretty energetic girl, kind of like that Nora girl running around here. Her attitude…. Along with other circumstances at the time, made it hard for me to particularly like being around her. I tended to keep to myself, kind of like a lone wolf…" He paused. "But ultimately, that all changed. Eventually, those other extenuating circumstances were resolved, I actually bothered to get to know her and others… and before I knew I had established strong bonds with them all, my sister especially." He sighed contently as he thought back on those old yet very fond memories. It still amazed him at how close he and Reiko had grown once Ragnarok was all over. Hell, when she had finally started to date and all, he had even gone as far as to do the typical 'hurt my sister, I hurt you' threat to the guy taking her out on the date.

"I… I see," Weiss said quietly, mulling over these words. First Peter Port talked to her about her team and attitude towards them and now here was another professor giving her something akin to a lecture on the same topic. "Thank you, professor. That was… pretty enlightening," she then said, noticing the time and seeing that class would be starting soon.

"Hmm, you're welcome. I hope my words helped a bit," Naruto said. He too took note of the time and turned to leave the classroom. "Oh and one quick thing."

"Yes?" Weiss looked perplexed. Was there something else of importance that professor Namikaze had to mention?

"When you see your leader, tell her next time I really will smack her upside the head," Naruto said nonchalantly. "This morning marked the eighth time she's fallen asleep in my class. And while sitting in the front of my class too." He did his best to hold back the sigh. He knew that the current material he was teaching was still pretty boring and that Ruby was still only a 15 year old, but would it kill her to _try_ to stay awake? He was starting to doubt his own teaching ability because of her.

"Err… okay?" Weiss answered uncertainly.

Nodding at Weiss' (supposed) response, Naruto left the classroom.

Elsewhere in the academy, lunch was beginning to wind to an end. It was almost time for the next class to start. Granted, the students still had almost 15 whole minutes before their next class, but given the size of the academy and their tendency to walk rather than run anywhere outside of combat practice, the fifteen minutes gave them just enough time to get to class lest they risk their professors' ire.

And so it was with this in mind that the remaining three members of team RWBY began to walk towards their next class, which Weiss was already at.

"Ah, that sure hit the spot!" Yang commented, actually rubbing her belly. She never would've expected the food here at Beacon to be so healthy yet delicious. Seriously, it ought to be a crime for food to be that good, she felt.

Her younger sister agreed. "Mhm!" She all but literally had stars in her eyes. One of the cooks – Miki – had even been nice enough to give her a few personally made cookies. By far the best ones she's ever had. "Those cookies were just amazing!" she almost squealed giddily.

"Yeah!"

Blake simply rolled her eyes, seeing how her fellow two teammates were acting. That said, she did have to agree. She never would've expected the food to be so delicious here. "I guess you do have a point."

"I do have a point!" Ruby replied.

"She does!"

Now Yang yawned a bit, stretching in such a way that it would've drawn a considerable amount of male attention. "But… now off to class…" At that, her voice just lost a little bit of its usual spunk.

Ruby sighed, nodding in agreement. As much as she wanted to be a huntress, going to class can be pretty tough given how some of the material taught doesn't seem all that… well, interesting or relevant. Not to mention how, as leader of team RWBY, she'd still have to do her best to do what her position entailed: leading. At least she's been making some headway with that. Even Weiss seemed to be opening up a little, so that must count as a success of some sorts, right?

"Don't worry! I'm sure it'll go well!"

It was roughly at the same time that all three members of team RWBY finally took notice of the 'extra' voice that had been hanging around them.

Turning around, they were rather surprised by who they saw. Namely a young woman that looked no older than her mid-20s. She had long light blond hair tired up into two side ponytails, held in place by black and white striped ribbons. Standing at roughly the same height as Yang, the young woman also sported a slender yet remarkably curvaceous figure and well-endowed figure, somewhat shown off in the black mobile knee length skirt she wore along with the white sleeveless shirt (none of team RWBY would quite call it a tank-top given its appearance) and brooch she had on. What really drew their attention was how soft her facial features were, making her look more akin to a teenager rather than someone in her mid-20s as the rest of her body appeared. Her eyes were the most gentle of pinkish in color, like that of a sakura tree.

This person was none other than Naruto's magical weapon, Hanako herself.

She looked at the three RWBY members with a big smile on her face. "Hello.~" she said chipperly. She waved to them with one hand. The other hand was currently being used to hold a few cookies, the same kind that Ruby had just mentioned.

"E-Er, hi?" Ruby replied, unsure of herself. She knew she was socially awkward and all… but this… girl? Young woman?... seemed to really stand out. She seemed friendly though.

"I'm sorry, but just who are you?" Blake then asked, quirking an eyebrow. She could tell that Hanako wasn't a student, but she didn't appear to be part of Beacon's faculty either.

"Ah, I'm Hanako," the humanoid magical weapon introduced herself, bowing a little sheepishly. The cheery expression she had on her face was throwing the girls for a loop; it made her look noticeably younger than she appeared. "Sorry for just butting into the conversation… but I couldn't help but just agree with you!" She motioned to Ruby.

"Me?!" Ruby exclaimed, surprised by how Hanako had suddenly motioned to her. But then she regained herself and realized what Hanako meant. "Oh!" Her eyes lit up. "You mean the cookies?! So I'm not the only one who thinks they're amazing?"

Hanako nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! Miki-chan sure does make great cookies." Befittingly, she took that exact moment to eat one of the cookies in her hand before passing another one to Ruby. The younger girl all but melted as she ate the cookie and before Blake or Yang knew it, they were once again walking to class with Hanako in tow, who was chatting happily with Ruby.

"Well…" Yang began. She was actually rendered silent by Hanako's appearance just now. But seeing how well along her sister and Hanako were getting, she managed to regain her wit. She even smiled at the scene. "Now that was pretty sudden. She seems interesting though." She grinned now, looking to Blake.

Blake slowly returned her blond friend's grin with a more subdued smile. "I suppose…" But though she wouldn't say it aloud, she was kind of getting a bit of a strange vibe off of Hanako. It was almost as if she wasn't quite human. But she clearly wasn't a Faunus either, unless she was hiding something in her hair or under that skirt… well that last bit sounded perverted, the Faunus silently reprimanded herself.

That aside, it was this feeling as to why she had sounded a little on the cautious side just now when she had asked Hanako to introduce herself; she simply didn't seem 'normal,' for lack of a better word.

But at any rate, she so far clearly wasn't a threat to her or anyone else. So the cat Faunus ultimately decided to just let things play out for now. Who knows? Maybe it's just her mind playing tricks on her, somehow looking for a threat that simply isn't there.

With that in mind, Blake and her two teammates and one magical weapon continued their trek to class, Ruby's and Hanako's enthusiastic conversation garnering some attention from other students around them.

Elsewhere in the world, there was a man hard at work. The room he was currently in appeared to be some kind of laboratory, though its exact features couldn't quite be made out; if anyone were to come by this place, they'd find the room to be almost pitch black, making it impossible to make out anything about the room or its current occupant.

And this darkness didn't bother the man in the least. He had long since trained himself to function this well in complete darkness. And besides, it wasn't as if he was in the midst of any experiments. In fact, he was simply reviewing the results of the latest experiment. And as he had expected for the most part, it had gone well, though it was clear there still was much to be done.

"So it truly is possible for Dust to 'mix' like this…" he muttered, taking a second to calmly rub his chin in thought.

He was, however briefly, broken from his thoughts when he heard a knock upon the door. But he was by no means startled by this disruption; he had, after all, called for this person to come to him. "Enter."

The door just several yards from him opened, letting in a blinding amount of sunlight, enough to keep the arrival's features obscured. But the person was most definitely a male.

"Sorry to bother you, captain… but you called for me?" the person asked.

The man, the captain, nodded. "That's right." He turned around in his chair, fixing the younger man with his startlingly golden eyes. "But before I get down to business… how are the modifications? Everything feels well?"

The young man nodded. "Yes. I feel just fine, stable. Say the word, captain, and I can do pretty much anything you ask of me."

That got yet another nod out of the captain, one of approval. "Good. With that in mind, let me tell you something: I'm giving you a task. A rather important one."

That got the young man to stand up straighter. "A task?" he asked excitedly. "And what will it be?"

"After many years of research, investigation and more, I've finally confirmed the existence and general locations of all the 'ancient' magi. You've done quite well against magi around your age and somewhat older, but now it's time to truly field test your abilities." The captain paused, taking a moment to get up from his seat and pass a scroll towards the young man, who took it and looked at the information on-screen. "You'll be heading to Atlas. There, lies not just one, but _three_ 'ancient' magi. All of whom you can quite clearly see on the scroll provided. It doesn't really matter which one you choose to fight, assuming you do get to fight just one of them… but be sure to study them carefully. The more information you can get on their abilities, the better. And if it looks like you may die, retreat."

The young man nodded. "Of course!" he answered. But then he cocked his head to the side in slight confusion. "But if I get a chance to kill one of them… what should I do?"

"If that does happen, then by no means hesitate," the captain said.

The young man nodded. "Got it. I'll get ready to leave right now."

"Good. Dismissed," the captain said and as soon as those two words left his lips, the young man turned around and left, off to complete his new task.

Waiting for a brief few seconds to stand around in silence, the captain went back to his chair. As he sat down, he considered how things were moving along. His apprentice, Cinder, seemed to have been making some headway in collecting as much Dust as possible, though now it seems her operations have hit something of a speed-bump in the form of hunters and huntresses.

"Hmm…" the captain muttered, leaning back in his seat a bit. "It certainly wouldn't do if our Dust collection slows; the substance is a necessary component of my experiment." He fell silent, now debating what option to take. Although he said Dust was necessary, that was just a tad bit off; it would be possible for him to put off experimentation for the time being, switch over to his other 'sample,' which was much more abundant than Dust thanks to its unique properties… but he's already made considerably headway with Dust and it wouldn't feel quite right to just give up on it for now.

And it certainly wasn't as if hunters or huntresses would prove much of a problem. He was more than certain his Holy Knights would triumph over any of the warriors of this era. Still, if possible, he'd like to hold off on using such blatant force. The longer he and his forces remained out of the public's sight, then it would make his experiments all the easier to do in relative peace.

"Oh well…" he then said, shrugging his shoulders a bit. He supposed he didn't have to make a decision right here and now. Cinder may have started to lag behind in her particular task, but he still had plenty of Dust on hand to carry on for a while longer.

He'll just have to wait until then. Perhaps until after his Holy Knight just now completes his new task.

* * *

><p>So what do you think guys? Was I able to keep the RWBY characters in character? I hope I did. If not, then I'll do my best to do better from now on!<p>

You can also expect them to naturally get involved with a number of things going on in this story. And I can guarantee you that those events will be most action packed.

Until the next chapter, everyone! Take care!


	3. Chapter 2

Oh man, I am so sorry everyone for how late this chapter was. But you know how it is; school and all that jazz. The essays in particular took some time to do and procrastinating them isn't exactly a viable option in my honest opinion. But it's all over and done with for now at least; just have to study for finals and take care of two last essays.

That aside, damn! Just been watching some fight scenes from Fate/Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works and I have to say that I am freaking impressed! The animation and fight choreography puts the previous anime adaptation and movie to shame! Seriously, if Fortissimo Akkord Bsusvier (or even Nachsten Phase) ever gets an anime adaptation, I am going to hope Ufotable is put in charge of it because if Fortissimo had this level of quality to it…. man, just the thought of it makes me grin like crazy!

On another note, I can't help but feel a little excited and sad over Naruto's approaching end. Hard to believe it's been 15 years since it was first serialized. But at least the last Naruto film is still a month or so off from being released in theaters, so there is that to look forward to.

And did anyone else see the season finale of RWBY? If so, just what are your thoughts? Because I honestly felt that it was a little on the rushed side. That said, the crazy action and reintroduction of Adam Taurus and other plot points made up for it.

And one very last note, I have to say that I'm surprised (pleasantly so) to see that Dragons Rioting has its own crossover category. Maybe once this fic is fully done, I'll do a crossover fic with it in some way? Oh well, I have plenty of time to think on that!

Well, that all now off my chest, how about we finally start this chapter?

Chapter 2

It was night time now and the Holy Knight was currently stowed away on a ship heading for Atlas. In his current hiding spot among the military cargo, it was now light enough for the knight's features to be made out.

The Holy Knight appeared to be a relatively young man, in his mid to late teens at the oldest. Possessing a somewhat dark complexion complimented by his wild and short black hair and gold eyes, the young man shifted mildly about.

"Almost there," he muttered quietly to himself, standing up a bit to show that he was of average height, yet with a fit build somewhat shown off in the military styled coat, shirt, and pants he wore.

He let out a little sigh of relief, stretching his limbs and working out the kinks in his joints. He had been sitting in approximately the exact same position for a number of hours now, ever since this ship took flight.

He supposed, in hindsight, that he could've simply traversed the distance between headquarters and Atlas on foot – it would've saved him quite some time – but he had ultimately decided against it. There was simply no telling if anyone would've detected him and the less attention he drew, the better for him and the captain. Besides, he figured he'd be drawing some attention as it is once he got to Atlas and started to do battle against one of those ancient magi. No need to try and pull off any other theatrics.

And it was on that note that he couldn't help but grin a little. He had met the captain little more than two years ago and during that time he had come to learn of many things. Granted power unlike anything he had ever imagined, he had faithfully served his captain and intended to do so for as long as he lived; it was the least he could do for the one who had given him a better life. But that said, he had grown somewhat bored of the opponents he's had to face thus far. Indeed, despite them being magi, they had given him little challenge for the most part. So he had high hopes for these ancient magi.

"I sure hope you live up to reputations…" he thought aloud.

Settling back onto the cold floor yet again, the Holy Knight decided to rest up. He couldn't wait until he arrived at his destination.

While this occurred, back in Beacon Academy, Ryuichi was also deep in thought. As it was more or less the middle of the night, he was currently dressed in his sleep wear, consisting of a simple faded grey shirt and green pajama bottoms.

He couldn't find it in himself to sleep right now and so he was simply sitting up in bed, staring at nothing in particular while his mind wandered.

And it was this mind-wandering of his that was leaving him feeling a little concerned. He couldn't help but feel a sense of dread building up within him. The last time he'd felt this way was way back during the ritual known as Ragnarok. That this feeling would return after all this time told him one thing and one thing only: that a storm was brewing and that it was going to be _big_. But alas, that was as far as he could go. He simply couldn't fathom what, if anything, could instill this dread in him and it was this that bugged him right now.

However, he was slowly rankled from his thoughts when the other person in bed began to stir.

The young woman, an attractive woman with a slim and curvaceous figure with a light and almost creamy complexion, shifted about in the bed before opening her red eyes slowly. Looking up at Ryuichi, the young woman shifted her position yet again, moving the lock of black hair out of her face.

"Can't sleep?" she asked softly of the man who is her husband.

"Yeah. Didn't mean to wake you though…" Ryuichi replied apologetically.

The woman waved it off. A sleepy smile graced her face. "Don't apologize… I couldn't really sleep that well either." She chuckled a little tiredly. "So what's on your mind, Ryuichi?"

"Mari…" Ryuichi whispered his wife's name. He had to fight down a chuckle. His wife could read him like an open book, it'd seem.

Four years following the end of the fourth Shinobi War against Akatsuki, Ryuichi had encountered Mari on a simple delivery mission to a neighboring village. The two had met under rather intriguing circumstances, Mari at the time having accidentally mistaken him for some kind of attacker as he had been passing through her home village at a time following bandits raiding it. It had been then and there that Ryuichi discovered her to be a magus when she had attacked him. But after they had cleared up the misunderstanding, Mari had insisted on making it up to him for the attack. He had protested at first, deeming it to not be necessary of her to do so… but she had insisted again and Ryuichi had ultimately been unable to protest for long. From there, a friendship had formed between the two of them, which had only then grown into something more during the years that had followed. By their late twenties, the two had married.

Just like Naruto and Miki, Ryuichi and Mari had been together ever since, enjoying their time together all these centuries later.

"Well," Ryuichi began. "I'm not really sure how to describe it. It's like I can sense something is going to be happening soon. Something that may very well be more of a threat than Ragnarok was… but I just can't figure out what this possible threat is."

Mari nodded, sitting up now next to her husband. "So in other words… a greater threat than even Odin?" She had long since been told of what had occurred during her husband's youth. Needless to say, she had found herself greatly amazed and shocked by the events that had taken place unbeknownst to the rest of the world. And now for Ryuichi to say something like this…

"Possibly." Ryuichi was feeling reluctant to say it, but he simply had to. He understood that he was probably being overdramatic in a sense – he and his friends, especially Naruto were much more powerful now than they had once been as teens – but he still couldn't dissuade himself of the fact that something was going to happen. He didn't live to be this old by not developing some kind of sixth sense, after all.

Mari nodded. "I see." A pause. She gave her husband a comforting hug. "Still… you can't let these kinds of thoughts plague you like this. You and I and the others… we've all faced all kinds of threats over the centuries. So you can't just let this get you so unnerved."

Ryuichi sighed. "I guess. But still, it feels different this time around."

Mari smiled now, reassuringly so. "And yet, you have overcome these kinds of situations in the past. You and Naruto and Miki and Hanako and me… no matter what kind of threat it is this time around, I know we'll pull through. And you know that too."

Ryuichi looked to his wife. Upon gazing at her confident expression, he felt his own worry ease up a little. "I guess you have a point…" He chuckled a little.

Mari returned the chuckle. "Glad to hear that." She then leaned towards him and pecked him lightly on the lips. "Now how about you actually try to get some sleep? We all have another long day to look forward to tomorrow." And with that, she proceeded to lie down again, snuggling against him under the covers.

With nary a laugh, Ryuichi simply lied down under the covers as well. He supposed it truly was time he got some sleep. Given how busy life here at Beacon Academy appeared to be, he was going to need it.

In another room on the same floor as Ryuichi's and Mari's, Naruto was currently lying in bed, staring up at the ceiling. So piercing was his gaze that if anyone had been there to witness this, they'd be amazed at how he didn't end up blasting a hole in the ceiling.

Why was he awake? For the same reason that Ryuichi had been. Something was on his mind. More specifically, whatever it was that was about to happen.

"Hmmm…" Unlike Ryuichi, whose 'sixth sense' was something developed through constant training and battle, his 'sixth sense' was quite literal, being in the form of Uroarbrunner. But even then, it could only peer so far into the future. And after much training and battle using it, he had long since come to learn that the future can be a hazy thing.

And he wasn't the only one awake either.

"Still bothered?" Miki asked.

Looking to his wife, Naruto couldn't help but just look her over. Dressed in a sleeveless nightgown that went to just above her knees, Miki's mature and slender figure was shown off nicely. Having always driven herself past her limits in training, her body was still as taut and muscular as it always was while still remaining very much feminine if her more than ample bosom and other curves were anything to go by.

Currently, she was snuggling up against him, peering into his gazing eyes, waiting for his answer.

"Kind of." Naruto sighed. "I know I should just stop thinking on it, but it never hurts to be proactive."

At that, Miki made a subdued sound of agreement, not wanting to wake Hanako, who shared the room with them, sleeping in another bed just a ways away from them. "True. Still, there's no need to try and rush things. Ozpin is still looking into things as it is… so let's just hold off on doing anything ourselves for now."

Naruto nodded slowly, looking back at the ceiling again. "Yeah, good point." Then his somewhat troubled expression was replaced with a smile. "You always know how to settle me down. And with such simple words too, you know."

Miki giggled lightly. "I could say the same about you."

Sharing a light kiss, the two of them proceeded to try and go to sleep. They had a long day ahead of them.

The following day, the first years were meeting up as usual for their regular combat sessions. And so far, a number of them have already gone per Glynda's requests of them and put on a decent showing for their fellow classmates, who observed when not sparring themselves.

Except for one student, that is.

"Ah!" Jaune Arc cried out as he was bodily flung across the training area by his opponent. Clumsily crashing into the ground, he did succeed in using the momentum to turn it into a roll, but nothing beyond that.

Clumsily wielding his sword and shield, he tried to stand up, but the pain he was currently in made it slow going for him.

"At least it isn't Cardin…" he thought, silently grateful for that one saving grace of today. Usually, either by some sort of sadistic intelligent design or by sheer bad luck, he would always be paired off against Cardin in sparring matches, the taller and more muscular boy making a point to be as rough as possible during the spar. This time around though, Jaune found himself going against a different classmate of his, one whose name he didn't really know. And while this person didn't really seem to be holding back all that much, at least this nameless girl – quite on the tall side, if Jaune said so himself – wasn't cruelly playing with him like Cardin usually did.

"Back on your feet, Mr. Arc," Glynda said tersely.

The blond boy winced at the tone and immediately complied. He had to do better. Not just for his own sake, but for his team's sake too. He still couldn't believe he'd been chosen as leader of team JNPR, especially given his increasingly obvious lack of fighting ability, but he had come to the simple conclusion that he'd have to do the best he could and that he'd have to improve as quickly as he could too; the way his sparring sessions have been going since the start of the school year, he could tell that Glynda, the main overseer of the combat sessions, was beginning to grow tired and frustrated of him. Same thing went for his classmates, many of them looking positively bored as he took a minute to try and figure out what to do next. At least his team and part of team RWBY – mainly the leader herself and her half-sister Yang – looked like they were rooting for him, albeit in a more quiet fashion. Save for Nora, who was quite loudly telling Jaune to beat this girl so they could go eat.

"Always thinking with her stomach," Jaune thought with a slight shake of the head, letting his thoughts wander a bit. A mistake on his part. By the time he regained his focus, the girl he was going up against had already gone on the attack again, transforming her lance into a rifle and firing at him.

Holding up his shield – said item and sword called Crocea Mors – Jaune was able to protect himself from the bullets, but his form was sloppy, causing the bullets to force him back a few steps. This was all that the girl needed to rush forward and literally sweep him off his feet, taking his legs out from under him with one swift swing of her lance.

Yelping in surprise, Jaune ended up falling onto his back, his legs almost comically sticking up into the air due to the sheer strength of the attack, not to mention its suddenness.

As this happened, Jaune wasn't really sure what hurt worse: the actual fall he just took, Glynda's frustrated sigh, his classmates' sighs of relief at the match now being over, or the rather crushed looks that Nora, Pyrrha, and Ruby sported as soon as the signal for the match's end rang out.

"Mr. Arc, I understand that it's still only the second week of classes," Glynda began, her voice firm as she approached him and the girl. "But sooner or later – preferably sooner – I would very much like it if you begin to live up to what your transcript boasts of."

At those words, Jaune winced. As much as he was beginning to want, he simply couldn't tell anyone that he was a… a fraud. His transcripts forged in order to get into Beacon Academy, he was little better than a civilian when it came to fighting. But he couldn't tell anyone that; doing so would just get him kicked out of the school. And he wanted to try and live up to his family's legacy. Especially since….

He shook his head, ridding himself of the thoughts that now entered his mind. "Yes ma'am," he replied dutifully to Glynda.

Nodding brusquely at his response, Glynda then motioned for him and the other student to leave the field. She did the same for the rest of the students too; combat sessions were over for today.

Jaune took a long moment to put away Crocea Mors, looking at it with sad eyes. "Guess I really am no good at this…" he thought.

However, he was roused from his thoughts just as he was about to get up off the floor. The reason why he was so surprised now was because the girl who had just beaten him was offering him her hand.

"So…" the girl, having a complexion much like Jaune's own that was complimented by her dark brown hair and eyes, began. Something of a nervous and awkward smile was on her face. "Good match?"

Jaune laughed a little as he accepted her hand and was pulled to his feet. "You don't have to try and play it off; I sucked," he admitted, too tired in body and mind to really bother mincing words now. That wasn't to say that his words were mean.

The girl laughed as well, awkwardly so. After helping him up, she put away her lance and settled for putting her hands on her rather wide hips. "W-Well I'm sure you'll get better. The school year has barely begun, after all."

Dusting himself off, Jaune smiled softly at the girl. He didn't know her, but he felt grateful nonetheless for her words. "I sure hope so…" He then looked off to the exit of the arena, seeing his teammates waiting for him. He still found it hard to believe that he was their leader. Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren were far better fighters than he was and probably will ever be and could keep their heads in battle while he was too busy losing focus in one way or another. To think that they had little problem with him as their leader and would even patiently wait for him now in spite of risking being late for their next class… well, it warmed him a bit and made him want to try even harder. "Looks like we better get going. Wouldn't want to be late for the next class, right?"

"Y-Yeah." The girl returned his small grin with one of her own. "You and your team go on ahead, I'll catch up in a bit."

Jaune simply nodded and went off, leaving the girl behind. As he did so, he was completely unaware of the shy yet longing look that the girl was giving him.

It would seem that Jaune Arc did indeed have some charm with the ladies, after all.

"Hmm?" Jaune hummed in confusion.

"What is it, Jaune?" Pyrrha, the young woman proclaimed by many as being the strongest girl of the 1st years as well as one of the strongest students in general, looked at her leader with slight worry. "Something wrong?"

"Feels like someone is watching me…" Jaune muttered, scratching the back of his head, only to stop when moving his arm sent pain shooting up his limbs. Still covered in bruises and some cuts, it'd look as though he'd be taking a while to fully recover.

The girl, overhearing this conversation even from this distance – the blond and redhead weren't exactly talking quietly – promptly looked away, a blush on her face. Silently making a note to not stare so blatantly at the blond young man, the girl finally left for her next class, the blush not quite leaving her face.

Elsewhere, Cinder was in the midst of a most surprising conversation. "You really sent him?" She asked this of her master through her phone with a considerable amount of surprise, which would be deemed uncharacteristic of her if her two protégés Mercury and Emerald ever caught sight of her now.

And she felt it was natural for her to feel so surprised; just now she was on the phone with her master, who had just informed her of his most recent move. "That's correct," said the man over the line. "As your Dust operations have hit something of a speed bump, I figured it was about time I move things up a bit."

"I see. Still, I didn't know he was combat ready. Didn't you say it would take time for them to fully come into their own?" Cinder commented.

"I did indeed. However, he is in stable condition now. And besides, this is now the perfect time to fully test out the Holy Knights' capabilities." Cinder's master's response was succinct and with much certainty, so much so that Cinder herself bit her lip, unsure of how to respond.

But respond, she did. "Alright then. And what of me? Since you already plan to mobilize the Holy Knights one by one, what does this mean for me?"

"For now, stick to your task. But be forewarned, Cinder: there is only so much time you have before I am in genuine need of more Dust for the experiments. And I feel that the timetable has already been pushed to its limits as much as I am already willing to bear," the man said to her.

"Very well then. I'll keep you apprised," Cinder said, getting ready to end the call.

"See to it that you do," was the last thing her master said before ending the call.

Now that it was over, Cinder stood in her current spot for a while, her thoughts racing. She knew that sooner or later the Holy Knights would be sent out into the field, but she hadn't been expecting it to start happening this soon. No doubt they'd start drawing attention, no matter how well they would try to cover it up. And if something were to happen to connect them to her operation, then that would only cause her more problems than she already has to deal with.

For the first time in a long time, the black haired woman sighed. On the one hand, she was rather excited by all of this; it meant that soon enough her master's plan was truly start. On the other hand, there was no telling what could happen. There were plenty of things that could make this whole thing go south hard and fast.

"I sure do hope you know what you're doing…" Cinder thought of her master. It was wrong of her to doubt him, especially now during such a delicate stage in his research, but it was something that she couldn't quite help.

But at any rate, sweating the details now would do her no good. All she can do is simply continue with the plan. That, and hope for the best.

That decided, she left, ready to get back to her duties.

Some time later, night began to fall yet again. And the young Holy Knight was most pleased, for the ship he had stowed away had docked just a few minutes ago.

Now in Atlas and clear of the ship and the port it docked at, he was free to move about as he pleased. As long as he stuck to the shadows for now, of course. Given his apparel, it would become clear to any denizen of Atlas that he wasn't from around here. So he better not reveal himself or otherwise draw much attention until he locates one of his targets.

It was on that note that he took out from his pocket the scroll provided to him by the captain. Switching it on and looking at the information on the three ancient magi, he couldn't help but smirk in excitement as he looked at their current locations.

"Let's see… Daisuke, Takehiko, and Katsu, eh? I wonder just which one of you will be able to give the best fight?" the Holy Knight pondered aloud.

Memorizing the addresses provided for them, he pocketed the scroll and marched further into Atlas.

It was time for him to hunt.

* * *

><p>So what do you think? Moving too fast? Too slow? Kind of both somehow? Let me know, please.<p>

Also, I do hope you will enjoy Mari. While she is yet another new OC alongside the Holy Knights and their master, I hope you come to like her as much as the other ones created for The God Slaying Wolf. And just wait until you see her bust out her magical weapon, which will be quite a while admittedly.

And don't you worry; the fighting is going to be starting up soon too…

And once again, thanks everyone for all of the favs and follows!

Until next time everyone! Take care.


	4. Chapter 3

Naruto is finally over. Not sure if I should feel sad or happy. But nonetheless it's had an awesome run. And at any rate, there's still the final movie coming out on top of a mini-series in 2015, focusing on his son Bolt/Boruto it would seem. Wonder how that'll go.

And almost done with my semester! Roughly 4 more weeks to go and then it's winter break. Not sure if I will be able to take any classes during that time, but if things go well, I may be able to graduate by May or August of next year. God, such a thought excites and terrifies me all at once. Real world, here I come, I guess…

Anyways, I won't hold you guys up with an AN any longer. Time to get this chapter started.

Chapter 3

The Holy Knight traversed Atlas with a practiced ease, having made it a point to memorize the basic layout of the place before setting off for here. Not that he felt he needed to really know the layout too much; now that he was finally here and journeying further into the kingdom, he was slowly beginning to pick up on the 'auras' that these ancient magi were giving off.

Of the three magi he'd been informed of, there were two of them that were relatively close by while the last one was noticeably farther away, deeper within Atlas. Which was to be expected, the Holy Knight figured, having read up on the information his captain had painstakingly gathered.

Normally, logic would dictate he'd head for either of the two magi closest to his current whereabouts, but he wasn't going to do that. As confident as he was in his abilities, he'd rather avoid fighting more than one of these ancient magi and considering how close these two seemed to be to one another, a fight with either of them would bring the other one running in short order. Unless the other decides to run away, but the Holy Knight highly doubted that.

"Takehiko…" he muttered the name of the one that was furthest away from the other two. He grinned. "Well, I guess it's you I'll be going after…"

Banking a left at the next intersection he came to, the Holy Knight ventured further deeper into the kingdom of Atlas, eager to test his mettle against an ancient magus.

Back in Beacon Academy, it was yet another day, with the aspiring students of the academy tending to their usual classes.

Team RWBY, however, was lagging behind in this little routine. "Ugghhh…" Ruby groaned sleepily. "Another day of class…" Never before had she sounded so tired or bored. As leader of a team of huntresses-in-training, it would've been expected of her to be more enthusiastic in her time here at Beacon, but alas that was only applied to things not class related, it'd seem. Save for combat class at any rate.

Yang patted her sister on the shoulder. "Cheer up, sis," she said with an understanding grin. "I know classes are a drag, but sooner or later something fun will come up." She believed this wholeheartedly. After all, if the students of Beacon were to be successful hunters and huntresses, they are going to need far more than just theory and sparring; they'd need actual combat experience, out there in the midst of battle. Sooner or later they'd have to be assigned some kind of mission and the blond girl was already looking forward to it.

"I guess," Ruby replied, trying not to be so tired. As it was early morning though, she found this to be a most pressing task.

Unlike her and Yang though, Weiss and Blake seemed rather content with how things were progressing so far. "Honestly, barely a few weeks in and already letting things get to you," Weiss commented with the same air of haughtiness that she had been exhibiting since she and Ruby first met. However, her teammates noticed that this aura of hers seemed a little muted today. It would appear that slowly but surely, the one who Jaune dubbed Snow Angel was finally beginning to thaw out and get along with them.

Such a thought made the dark haired leader regain some of her usual cheer. "Maybe. But it's so boring!" Ruby proclaimed, a smile gracing her tired face.

Weiss could only shake her head at her partner's reaction. "And that's not much of an excuse to doodle on paper all throughout class. As it is, Professor Namikaze already has little hope for you." That one comment made Ruby wince a bit in shame. Indeed, it was mainly Naruto's class that she tended to doze off in. And as patient as the man appeared to be, it was evident to all that he was slowly reaching his limit. As it is, he's already smacked her on the back of the head – albeit lightly – with a rolled up paper. That had certainly gotten her to wake up then and there.

Ruby laughed a little sheepishly. "Uh, whoops?"

Her lackluster reaction was enough to make Weiss want to sigh. As for Blake and Yang, the two simply smirked knowingly. This was just how Ruby tended to be. Yang in particular knew that better than most. "Ah, come on, Weiss," Yang began, standing up for her younger sister. "Even you have to admit that his lectures aren't all that great."

Now Weiss had to roll her eyes at the blond. "And? Just because it's not exciting, doesn't mean it's alright to just slack off! Knowledge is power!"

Sensing a potential argument in the making, Blake, always the quiet one, now spoke up. "Well, it's still only the beginning of the school year. So just let him get to the more interesting stuff before judging," she spoke calmly, reading one of her books as she walked with her team to the next class. The bow atop her head twitched a bit in excitement as she was getting close to a most interesting part in the story. To be expected considering it was a book about shinobi.

Now it was Ruby who was about to speak, but was stopped when someone called out to her. "Ruby-chan!"

Everyone perking up at the call of her name, team RWBY simultaneously turned to see Hanako walking at a leisurely pace up to them. The humanoid magical weapon bounced almost energetically, her actions belying her age and causing some rather 'interesting' parts to bounce a bit, drawing a number of male stares.

"Hanako!" Ruby greeted enthusiastically. Ever since she and the older woman had met, they'd gotten along rather well, evident in how the 15 year old energetically waved to Hanako.

Weiss simply quirked an eyebrow, her mouth slowly tightening into a slight frown. Having met this woman when she had briefly entered the classroom last time alongside Ruby, Blake, and Yang, she hadn't quite been sure what to think of her. But so far, she found her rather bubbly personality to be a little annoying.

Yang, however, simply grinned, watching as Hanako greeted them and returning the greeting in kind. It warmed her heart to see her 'little sis' get along so well with another person outside of her and a select handful of others. Especially since Hanako seemed rather similar to Ruby in temperament in a way.

However, as Ruby and Hanako quickly began to converse among themselves, the latter trying to rope a now surprised Weiss into the conversation, Yang looked to Blake and was surprised to see the girl looking at Hanako with wary eyes.

"Something up?" Yang asked.

"Hmm?" Blake now turned to Yang. As soon as Hanako had called out to them, she had immediately focused all of her attention on her, trying to determine just what exactly she was. However, her focus on the magical weapon had been so great that she had only heard Yang address her, not actually listen to her words. "Sorry, what was that?"

Now Yang's smile slowly vanished. Looking to Hanako, Ruby, and Weiss before looking back at Blake, Yang decided to ask again. "I said: something up? You're staring at her pretty intensely."

Blake spared Hanako another glance before sighing. "Sorry, it's just… the girl seems off," she admitted truthfully. When they had first met her, which really wasn't that long ago, she had been plagued with the self-imposed question of just _what_ Hanako was. Although she couldn't tell anything by sense alone, her animalistic instincts just screamed at her that Hanako wasn't exactly some 'normal' person. The girl was hiding something and a lot of power too. She could almost literally feel it.

Yang blinked, surprised. "Off?" She couldn't understand what Blake was getting at. "In what way? She looks pretty cool to me."

Blake resisted the urge to sigh yet again. "I can't really put it in words. But she's not human."

"So… a Faunus then?" Yang's inquiry was simple enough and made enough sense. As humans and Faunus were the two types of people around (they're pretty sure the Grimm don't count), if Hanako wasn't a human, then in Yang's logic, she'd be a Faunus, right?

Blake tried not to wince at that. A Faunus herself, she could tell that Hanako wasn't one at all. But it wasn't as if she could just tell her partner or the rest of her team that particular fact. For as long as she could remember, she and many other Faunus had been discriminated against. Although her teammates looked and acted like very nice people – though Weiss was debatable in her mind – Blake feared how they'd react to her little secret.

Nonetheless, she answered Yang's question with little hesitation. "No, I'm sure she's not a Faunus either." She paused, watching in silence as Weiss was now fully swept up in the pace of the conversation Hanako had established with Ruby. It was hard to believe it herself that Hanako wasn't human or Faunus; she acted so much like a person that it was almost disconcerting.

That response only made Yang more confused. "Then…?"

No longer able to hold it back, Blake sighed. "I don't know. But I don't really trust her. And I probably won't until I know for sure what she is."

"Mhm…" Yang just nodded almost absentmindedly at her partner's words. She certainly hadn't been expecting this kind of conversation. Now she was curious too. Although she wasn't quite sure how Blake knew this about Hanako, the blond girl was certain that Blake wouldn't make something up. In which case, just what was Hanako?

She was roused from her deepening thoughts when she overheard a certain part of Ruby's and Weiss' conversation with said mysterious girl. "Look, it's actually pretty nice being able to talk and all, but we really should be hurrying along to class," Weiss spoke, looking bother amused and annoyed simultaneously at Hanako. That right there earned major props from Yang for Hanako. Bonding with Weiss so fast definitely was a feat. "Especially since Professor Namikaze will be giving us a quiz later so we have to stu-."

She was cut off by Hanako, who looked pleasantly surprised. "Oh, you're in Master's class?" she asked, her eyes wide with surprise and curiosity.

That certainly got the attention of all of team RWBY. As well as the attention of a few other students that were within earshot. Just how did Hanako know professor Namikaze?

"Master?" Ruby asked, blinking rapidly. "As in… your teacher or something? Mentor?" Those were the only things that came to mind.

"Nope!" Hanako said, ever oblivious to the 'havoc' she was about to unleash, even after all these centuries. "He's my owner!"

The hallway they had been walking down quieted immediately. So much so that a pin dropping would've sounded like car alarms going off. Team RWBY and the other passing students who heard simply froze in place.

Finally, Weiss was able to regain her voice and speak first. "Owner?! What's that supposed to mean?!"

"That him and I are pretty much one!" Hanako answered with no hesitation. "I'm his to use, however he pleases." Being his magical weapon, this actually was true; as his 'sword' and 'shield,' she is to pretty much obey any command he'd give in battle, though considering how unbelievably powerful he's become following the defeat of Odin and the absorption of his might, this had become less and less over the centuries. Just the thought made her want to pout. "Though he hasn't really been using me all that much lately…" she muttered.

Being who she was, Hanako remained oblivious to the sort of misunderstanding that her words were causing among those listening to her.

Ruby's face turned beet red, as the not-fully-innocent-minded girl began to picture just what Hanako's words meant out of its true context. Weiss' mouth opened and close rapidly, trying to form words, but failing. Blake's face seemed to burn, but she tried admirably to keep a straight face even as she silently compared Hanako's words to scenes from some of her more… _adult_ books that she had hidden away on her side of the room. As for Yang, the girl just grinned uncomfortably.

"Well…" Yang began, taking note of the gaping and red-faced students all around them. "Looks like the professor has some, uh, interesting quirks…"

Her teammates could only stupidly nod their heads, agreeing with her on what wasn't true.

Elsewhere in the academy and in the middle of class, the second year students could only look on at their professor in slight worry and even fear as Naruto Namikaze let out a very longstanding growl of pure frustration.

"U-Uhm, professor…?" a Faunus student, Velvet Scarlatina, slowly spoke. "Is everything alright?"

Naruto ignored her in favor of glaring upwards at the ceiling, silently cursing any deity that existed that could've been causing this. Although he didn't actually know what was going on, he had just gotten the feeling that Hanako had done something.

"Damn it, Hanako…" he muttered under his breath, much to his students' confusion and worry.

Looks like he'd have a lot of explaining to do in the near future, if only to preserve his reputation.

Elsewhere in Atlas, there was a certain place currently not open to the public. It was a building of moderate size, neither small nor absurdly large, and it looked pristine, more so than any other building Atlas had to offer people in that particular area. On the front of the building, above the entrance, was a sign that indicated that the place was a club, one that was quite popular among the more elite members of Atlas' society.

However, it was currently closed for some renovations.

The Holy Knight didn't care one bit for this at all. Entering discreetly through a back entrance, he made his way inside the club. Upon seeing that the entrance he had come through led to an empty hallway, he confidently strolled down said hallway, not even the slightest bit worried that he'd be making any noise.

"He should be just up ahead…" the Holy Knight thought eagerly. This club was actually more than just a elite circle club; it also happened to double as a rather large home for the ancient magus known as Takehiko. Here, the magus in question was located. The Holy Knight didn't even need the scroll he had gotten from his captain to tell; he could literally feel it in the air that Takehiko was here.

Reaching the end of the hallway and making a sudden right, he entered the club's main floor, a large dance space. As the club was closed for now, the entire room was very dark and there were a few spots that were in the midst of being worked over, though it would seem the workers had gone home early for the day for he was the only one here.

"I take it you're not here for a glass of champagne."

Or so the Holy Knight thought at first.

Whirling around immediately, the Holy Knight looked with somewhat wide eyes at the bar area. There, he saw a man sitting there behind the bar counter, inspecting the bottles.

Dressed in a simple long sleeve dress shirt and designer pants and shoes, the young man certainly looked the part of an upper class individual, what with his regal facial features being framed by the stylish golden blond hair he had. The man looked at the Holy Knight calmly, his steel grey eyes studying the intruder even as he carefully apprised the bar's stock.

The young man chuckled. "My apologies. Didn't mean to startle you," he said to the Holy Knight as he put the bottle back in its proper place. "However, I can't say I take lightly to intruders in my club."

The Holy Knight finally reacted, a sneer appearing on his face. "I see now. So you're Takehiko, I presume?"

Takehiko, now very much a young man rather than the boy he was back during Ragnarok, simply smirked. "Oh? Now this is unexpected; you know who I am." He didn't sound the least bit concerned by this intruder's knowledge of him.

The Holy Knight took a more relaxed posture now. But his eyes never left Takehiko for a second. "I sure do. I also know that you're more than simply this club's creator and current owner… founder of Atlas."

Now that did make Takehiko truly react, his eyebrows shooting up a bit at that. But just as quickly as he had reacted in shock, the ancient magus regained his composure. "…Now just how did you ever find that out?" he asked, his smirk taking on a more predatory quality.

Said smirk was enough to unnerve the Holy Knight slightly, for Takehiko was also now letting out a bit of mana. And what a quality there was to it; it felt so much purer than any other magi he's fought and slayed thus far. Looks like there was more to these ancient magi than he had anticipated. And to think, they've yet to even get past small talk. "That's for me to know and you to find out," he joked. "But I must say, most impressive. When I had learned that you, an ancient magus, had gone on to establish the kingdom of Atlas following the end of the shinobi era…. Well, it was definitely a big time shock to me. Especially since the monarchy still in place here is descended from you."

Now Takehiko's smirk vanished entirely. And an instant later, the Holy Knight found it hard for him to breath as Takehiko's mana now seemed to just be saturating all around him. "So you know that much, hmm? And I highly doubt you're here on amicable terms too…"

The Holy Knight laughed in spite of the pressure that seemed to threaten to crush him. "You're definitely right about that."

Then to Takehiko's surprise, something seemed to change about the Holy Knight. He was especially taken aback by a familiar sensation. "Mana?!" Takehiko muttered in genuine shock.

Indeed, the Holy Knight was radiating mana. Meaning that he was a magus. But… something felt off. This mana didn't feel natural at all like his own. Instead, it felt more artificial.

The Holy Knight raised his arms and as if in response to some unspoken will, glowing lights appeared before his open palms and from these two spots, two weapons appeared to manifest. Taking hold of his weapons as the light died down, Takehiko now saw that the weapons in question were intricate sais, golden and silver in color.

"Allow me to formally introduce myself. My codename is Indra. These weapons of mine are known simply as Vajra. A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Takehiko," the Holy Knight said. He paused for a moment to relish in his opponent's shock. "Though among myself and my fellow Holy Knights, we've taken to codenaming you as Loki for the time being."

That finally got Takehiko to react. The young (looking) man did away with his shock and instead smiled cheekily. "Oh? Holy Knights you say? Interesting title you've decided to claim. And I have to say, how stupid of you to tell me that you're not exactly 'unique.'"

Indra chuckled. "Not that it'll make much of a difference. After all, by the end of this day, one of us may very well be dead. And I don't intend to kick the bucket just yet."

Without any further preamble, Indra lunged at Takehiko just as the man had begun to step out from around the bar. His sais seemed to crackle intensely with mana as he neared at great speeds, beyond what any hunter or huntress could boast of.

However, Takehiko simply smirked. "For one so boastful, you really can't back it up, can't you?" he said without any fear.

"Hm?!" Before Indra could even get within arm's length of his chosen target, he sensed immediate danger coming from his right.

Repositioning his body in mid-lunge, he blocked a metallic looking orb with Vajra and just barely in the nick of time; this orb had simply come out of nowhere. "Where-?" he had begun to think.

Before he could finish the thought though, the orb he had just blocked promptly teleported. And it took him along with it.

Making a hasty stumble as to avoid crashing, Indra quickly took note of his new surroundings, noticing it to be the rooftop of a building several blocks away from Takehiko's club.

He wasn't alone either. Takehiko stood on the very ledge of the rooftop, a metallic orb in his hand and what looked like a book floating in front of his chest. It was his magical weapon, King's Scripture, looking every bit as regal as he now did, having changed slightly over the years from its more decrepit appearance. "'This space is now closed off from the outside world.'" Takehiko spoke.

In response to his words, King's Scripture simply thrummed and Indra literally felt the change in reality itself wash over him. A shimmer now made itself known, surrounding the entire area within a twenty block radius. The Holy Knight made a mental note that the people on the streets below had disappeared suddenly from view. And he immediately understood why; they were 'allowed' within this new space.

"Hmph." Swatting aside the orb he had blocked, Indra looked to Takehiko just as the man let go of the orb he had held.

"Well now, I can't exactly have you smashing up my club now, yes? Even if I can simply fix it all up," Takiehiko commented with a grin. And then he spoke again, only this time his words weren't directed towards Indra. "And thank you for the slight assist."

"Ne~ It was now sweat off my back, Take-yan," said the other person.

Indra's eyes went wide as he then spotted the other person in question… standing atop a small cluster of the metallic orbs a good dozen meters above the building.

Dressed in both a long sleeve shirt and a short sleeved one over it and black pants and shoes, the new arrival took a second to run a hand through his short yet shaggy brown hair. His eyes were closed, making him look positively leonic when combined with the seemingly permanent smile he sported.

Then the man opened his right eye, revealing his grey iris. "But I gotta say, Take-yan, I wasn't expecting you to have such a hostile guest. Guess it's a good thing I left you one of Field Changer's orbs for safekeeping."

Takehiko laughed. "Hardly, Daisuke. I could take care of this guy easily enough… but you know me. Fighting isn't quite my thing, especially not after all these centuries."

"Heh…." Indra now snorted as he looked at Daisuke. "Now this is a bit unexpected; two of my possible targets here together… what a surprise. I'd have thought I'd be able to just fight one of you, but instead ended up with two."

Daisuke recalled the two stray orbs to him as he and the other orbs lowered to the rooftop. "Heh, so you are targeting us, eh? Now what could you want from old-timers like us, kid?" he asked with a semi-serious air about him.

"I'd have though my attack on your friend would be answer enough," the Holy Knight replied. He gripped Vajra tightly and took up a stance. The sais crackled with lightning, getting the attention of both ancient magi. "But if you really do want an answer… then here it is!"

He pointed one sai at Daisuke and from its tip sprung a massive lightning bolt. Daisuke, with hands in pockets, simply eyed the attack while standing in place. It wasn't until the last possible instant that he decided to avoid it, jumping up just in time for the lightning bolt to miss him. Landing back on the rooftop, he smirked. "Oho. Not bad at all; that attack just now packed quite a bit of mana." As he uttered these words, Field Changer began to float about in the sky, the orbs spreading all around the area. The only exception was one orb, which floated towards Daisuke. "But it's gonna take more than that to put us under."

Daisuke then gripped the orb. Then he disappeared from sight.

Through a combination of pure survival instinct and strict training, Indra leaned forward as much as possible as Daisuke teleported behind him, unleashing a sudden chop that would've broken his neck if he had been even a nanosecond slower.

Rolling forward, Indra fired two lightning bolts from his sais while proceeding to dodge three orbs that broke off from their previous trajectory to try and ram him.

Daisuke, in response, simply gave the orb in his hand a squeeze and he teleported yet again, appearing right before Indra in mid-flip. Letting loose a kick, he struck Indra right in his gut.

Or so he thought.

"Hm?" Daisuke's smirk had dropped as he looked on in slight amazement.

In spite of how fast everything just now had happened, Indra had managed to react in time to block the kick, using the power behind it to propel himself away from Daisuke and towards Takehiko, who simply remained where he was with his arms folded across his chest.

Daisuke chuckled. "Oh no you don't…" Letting go of the orb, he then snapped his fingers. And then in a slight flicker of light, he appeared to simply vanish into the orb he had just held.

Indra, for his part, suddenly found the rest of the orbs lining up all around him. And from the orb closest to him, Daisuke appeared to deliver a fierce jab. Indra dodged it by tilting his head to the left. Now dashing towards Takehiko, Indra simply increased his speed further.

Daisuke simply teleported to the next orb, unleashing a hook. Indra blocked it with his left sai. He teleported again, delivering a roundhouse kick. Indra slid right under his leg, only to have to halt in his advance and leap back when one orb positioned itself right in front of him and Daisuke appeared, nearly bashing his brains in with an overhead elbow.

Backing off several feet, Indra found himself surrounded by the orbs yet again. "Damn!" he muttered, immediately knowing what was about to happen. Sure enough, Daisuke seemed to literally transform into light that was then absorbed by the nearest orb. From there, he suddenly teleported or rather 'popped' out of the nearest orb and proceeded to try and land a one-two combo on Indra, which the Holy Knight managed to duck and weave past.

Undeterred, Daisuke simply kept on the move, teleporting from one moving orb to the other, forcing Indra back. The whole time, Indra only remained on the defensive. However, he was eventually able to spot a small lag time between Daisuke's appearances to lash out with a quick slash towards the magus.

Daisuke swatted aside Indra's attack arm, throwing off his aim just as the sai had been about to hit him across the side of the torso. But even then, he had been just a tad bit too slow; he now sported a slight gash on his side.

Teleporting away, Daisuke then mentally commanded the orbs to form a platform of sorts for him to stand on, which then floated up into the air. With a hand placed towards his wound, he took a brief moment to look it over. Being a magus, he healed at much faster rate than a human and it showed as his wound had already ceased bleeding. But it would take roughly ten minutes or so for the gash to fully heal. And although that was pretty fast, it still didn't decrease the pain he felt nor change the fact that the attack would've been far more deadly if he hadn't parried it just now. He could've very well have ended up with an organ punctured if he had been any slower and such injuries weren't something that could be shrugged off.

"Looks like you've got some skill after all," Daisuke commented, trying to remain confident. Then he looked to Takehiko, who also looked impressed. "Isn't that right, Take-yan?"

"Mhm…" Takehiko tilted his head to the side as he thought this over. "Really now, Indra. I have to ask, what's the point of picking a fight with us?"

Indra simply smiled confidently. Giving Vajra a bit of a twirl, he promptly answered Takehiko's question. "That's really not something I can go around saying. And surely, you didn't actually expect me to just tell you right off the bat, right?" And then he looked up at Daisuke and pointed a sai at him. "And do you think you're safe up there? Because guess what? You're really not?"

"Hmm?" Daisuke hummed out in confusion.

Then from the bottom of Indra's feet shot forth lightning that propelled him up into the sky until he was nearly level with Daisuke himself. As soon as he reached the same altitude, the lightning that seemed to never stop streaming out of his feet lessened until a steady stream was pouring out, traveling little more than a foot in length.

Daisuke couldn't help but laugh in spite of himself. "Well now… that's definitely a first." Never before would he have imagined anyone using lightning to keep themselves airborne. Especially not in this particular day and age; the Semblances that hunters and huntresses had weren't quite capable of things like this, the last he had ever bothered to check. "You're just full of surprises, aren't you, Mr. Holy Knight?"

Indra simply smirked in response. "You have no idea." Then he took up a fighting stance, the same one from earlier though modified to accommodate the fact that he was no longer on the ground. "And now… if it's an aerial battle you want, magus, then it's an aerial battle you're going to get!"

And with that line, Indra went on the attack yet again.

* * *

><p>And there you go! So much for me taking my time to get the action started… Oh well, I don't mind this at all! And I hope you won't mind it either.<p>

As several centuries have passed since the God Slaying Wolf, you can expect any/all returning magi to not only be more powerful than before, but also a little more creative and much more skilled/experienced in using their magical weapons than ever before. Daisuke in this chapter would've hopefully demonstrated that particular fact as his teleportation between the orbs is something not done before.

And just you wait until I start _really_ bringing out the big guns…

Expect more of the RWBY characters do as I slowly yet surely work everything together into one. You won't believe the surprises I have in store involving them!

Until next time, everyone. Take care.


	5. Chapter 4

Man oh man, finally got my project done for one of my classes. Now just another two projects/essays to do! That's mainly why it took so long to get this chapter, so hope you all understand. But with winter break on the horizon now, I should be able to get a few more chapters out than I am right now. At any rate, I'll do my best to keep you guys updated if anything should arise.

On a sidenote, I've been watching two new anime recently: Amagi Brilliant Park and Grisaia no Kajitsu. They're both pretty damn good animes so far, with the latter especially being focused on character development (albeit a little rushed). Probably because it's based off a VN. So if any of you are looking for some new anime to watch, give those two a try; you just might like them.

Now onto the chapter!

Chapter 4

Off in another part of Atlas sat a small military base. Compared to other facilities that were strategically stationed all across the kingdom, this one in particular was rather remote and a little on the small side. Yet not without some reason; its purpose wasn't necessarily to serve as an actual base for a number of soldiers, but rather to serve as something akin to a manufacturing and shipping warehouse, said 'products' being produced being the latest in military technology.

And one soldier in particular was there to oversee things for the day. However, he found his attention to his duty waning with every passing second.

"Something is amiss," the soldier grunted. "And this strange 'distortion' appears to be located near Takehiko's place…"

The soldier, having been sitting, now stood and looked out of the nearest window towards the city.

This soldier was none other than Katsu himself. Having become a magi in his thirties, he still very much looked the same, having not changed physically at all. Indeed, all that has really changed about his looks were his clothes, having long since been swapped out from his original clothes to that of one of Atlas' many soldiers. But whereas their body armor came in a few different colors such as red, blue or yellow which denoted their rank, his was silver in color; one of the highest showings of authority among Atlas' military. While he still obeyed the orders of James Ironwood, there was no other person that he had to obey.

Being such a high ranking soldier, there was very little need for him to be in this particular part of Atlas, but here he was out of his own volition. It had really been nothing more than a whim of his to even be here, having wanted to purely supervise how things were progressing, but it would now seem that perhaps there may have been something more to him wanting to be here.

"A sixth sense of sorts?" he pondered as he shifted around a bit. Having once been a shinobi and now a soldier of Atlas, he had always been accustomed to battle and had quite a knack for it. This was so much so that he had something of an instinct for when there was something afoot and now here he was, that very same instinct all but screaming at him.

Something was definitely going on right now. And from the feel of it, it involved not just Takehiko, but also Daisuke.

That bothered Katsu a bit; despite how forced his alliance with the two had felt all those many centuries ago during Ragnarok, once it had ended and they all had mellowed out, they've become good friends. And having lost his son to battle long ago, he had vowed he wouldn't lose anyone else close to him. That included those two.

"You there," he then called out to the nearest soldier as he walked towards the nearest exit of the building.

"Yes sir?' the soldier asked, snapping to attention.

Katsu motioned to the building all around him. "Something had come up – nothing for you to have to worry about – and it requires my attention for a while. Until I return, you're in charge here."

"Yes sir!" The soldier saluted.

And with little more than a curt yet thankful nod, Katsu left. He had somewhere to be right now.

Back within Takehiko's recently created space, the battle between Daisuke and Indra raged on with a vengeance in the sky above Takehiko.

Indra, using lightning itself to keep himself afloat and even fly about, attempted to attack the ancient magus from a distance, utilizing the vastness of the sky to its fullest as he kept on the move, feinting and firing off one lightning bolt after another at Daisuke.

As for the magus, he simply leapt about from one of his orgs to another, using them as though they were stepping stones. And after he had moved from position to the next, the orbs he had just stepped on would suddenly launch themselves at Indra with immense speed, nearly on fire from the sheer friction.

Indra dodged each orb perfectly, but the ones he dodged immediately altered course, turning back around and darting right for him at various angles.

"Tch." Undoing his 'lightning thrusters' for the briefest of seconds, Indra let himself fall from the sky just long enough to avoid two orbs that had been aiming for his neck and arm before reigniting his 'thrusters' again to suddenly fly tens of meters to the west in order to dodge the other orbs. However, he had been unable to account for one of them, which had taken him off guard in the form of flying up from under him and hitting him hard in the stomach.

Even as he cried out in both pain and shock, he was teleported close to Daisuke, who then leapt at him and threw a punch at his exposed back.

But alas, Indra was able to spin in midair in spite of the pain, narrowly blocking Daisuke's fist with the side of his right sai before taking aim quickly with the left and firing a lightning bolt from the left one. His own counter failed as the orb that struck him simply returned to Daisuke in an instant and he used it to teleport a fair distance away from the lightning user.

Indra quirked an eyebrow, noticing that as Daisuke teleported, the orb ceased to be in his hands. It had apparently just vanished in mid-teleport. "What the…?"

Then Daisuke raised both of his hands upwards and brought it down. "Scatter Lance!"

Danger. That was the one thing Indra's instincts screamed at him over and over again. Sensing a great deal of mana above him, it only served to further entice him into doing something to avoid being hit.

To this end, Indra began to fly towards the now falling Daisuke, Vajra spinning rapidly and producing a massive lightning shield all around him even as he flew at speeds far surpassing sound.

He was in luck.

From above the spot he had just been hovering in came Daisuke's magical weapon, all of the orbs glowing fiercely as they shot down at literally lightning speed in a lance-like formation. Clipping Indra's shield marginally, the man in question could almost visibly see his lightning being sucked in by the orbs and dispersed so far off in the distance that only those with enhanced eyesight such as himself and magi could even see it.

"Oho?" Daisuke let out in surprise, unbothered by the fact he was defenseless now as he still continued to fall even as Indra continued to rapidly close the distance between them.

"A terrifying attack to be sure," Indra began, readying himself to tackle Daisuke through the nearest building. "But it'll take more than that to do me in, especially now that this attack has ended!"

At those words, Daisuke's devil-may-care smirk changed, becoming something far more… predatory. His eyes, which had been closed during the entire battle thus far, now opened up and locked onto Indra with a confident glint contained within them. "What makes you think it's all over?"

"…Ah!" Indra's eyes went wide now and with good reason too.

Impossibly so, the orbs – still in their 'Scatter Lance' state – _teleported_ midway through its course and now aimed for Indra's stomach, coming from directly below him at such a close range that dodging simply would be impossible.

That is, if he had been anyone other than a Holy Knight.

Showing an impressive display of reaction time and flexibility, Indra was able to suddenly pivot in mid-flight, bending in such a way that the teleported attack didn't even managed to strike him at all. What's more, he managed this without losing any speed at all as he kept heading for Daisuke.

Now the smirk on Daisuke's face vanished and was replaced with something a scowl, though not out of anger, but rather one of determination. It was clear that he couldn't quite hold back as much as he had originally thought against this so-called 'Holy Knight.'

The 'lance' teleported yet again, this time heading directly for Indra as if it had been shot out from Daisuke himself. This had been a rather simple move on the magus' part and with reason; at his current flight speed, there is simply no way that Indra would've been able to alter his flight course in time to avoid Scatter Lance now. And given how Scatter Lance works – by literally ripping apart the target's atoms and scattering them all across the area, resulting in instant death – there was also no way that Indra could guard against such an attack either.

And if the widening of Indra's eyes was anything to go by, it would seem that the man realized that too. But he wasn't quite done just yet. "Storm Riser!" he then called out.

"Huh?" Daisuke and Takehiko on the building below could only watch in genuine shock as Indra seemed to suddenly disappear in a flash of light, shooting upwards to the murky clouds above at a speed that surpassed Scatter Lance, which now came to an end as the orbs dispersed and returned to Daisuke's side as he landed on the rooftop of a building.

"Where did he go now?" Daisuke asked aloud.

His answer was thunder, which had definitely not been there before. And with the thunder came the lightning. "Whoa!" Daisuke teleported an entire city block over along with his orbs and for good reason as a massive lightning bolt shot down from the clouds above and utterly obliterated the entire building he had just been on. He felt it was a good thing this was only a space created by Takehiko, otherwise Atlas would've had to donate quite a bit of time to reconstruction.

From the sky came Indra's laughter, impossibly loud as it made even the air itself shake from vibration alone. "So even magi as old and as powerful as you can be surprised," he commented, his voice sounding deeper than before too. "As you well should be; I bet you've never encountered anything quite like this, yes?"

At that, Daisuke blinked. Then he slowly smirked. "Heh~. Maybe, maybe not. Something tells me though that you're not quite done showing me what you've got."

A snort was Indra's response to that. "That's certainly true. Just as you have been holding back – and I know you were – so was I. But now… I suppose I can take the gloves off a little…"

Following his words, the clouds began to rumble yet again, with thunder making itself known as well. So loud was it that it was nearly deafening to Daisuke. And in spite of this, Daisuke simply kept on smirking.

With a nonchalant wave of his hands, he made his orbs disappear, having 'de-summoned' them, so to speak. Naturally, this got a reaction out of Indra.

"Hm?! What are you doing?!" Indra questioned, completely taken aback by this sudden action of the ancient magus. He had expected many things of an ancient magus, but this wasn't on that particular list.

In response, Daisuke simply laughed. Tilting his head slightly to the right, he looked up at the sky in no real direction. "Come on, man. While whatever it is you're doing is actually pretty neat… you do remember just where exactly you are, right?"

"'Any fighting involving the sky is now banned,'" spoke Takehiko as he used King's Scripture.

And its effect was immediate.

The clouds above, which had become dark grey in color when Indra had disappeared into them, seemed to shudder violently before 'ejecting' the Holy Knight from their folds.

Indra was launched out of the clouds at great speeds and towards the rooftop of a building a hundred meters away from Daisuke's current spot. As surprised as he was, he flipped around several times in midair and landed perfectly in a crouched position before quickly standing up.

And he was looking both angry and amused at the same time. "Damn… it would seem that I had underestimated the power of your King's Scripture, Loki," he said to Takehiko, referring to the magus by the codename he and his fellow Holy Knights have given the magus.

Takehiko had a very smug look on his face. "In all honesty, you really should have expected that."

However, a few seconds later, Takehiko and Daisuke then almost physically recoiled when the entire space they were fighting shuddered for a brief instant. Their surprise gave way immediately thereafter though. Takehiko even cracked an amused smile.

"I didn't think you would've been able to sense us from so far," Takehiko commented.

"Your mana is far more potent than you think, Takehiko."

"Ah!" Indra responded instinctively, as he had heard this new voice come from behind. Spinning, he held his sai in such a way as to stab the new arrival right in the side.

But before he could fully do the turn, the man reached out with his right hand and grabbed Indra's wrist with ease, stopping the Holy Knight right in his tracks.

"…Looks like all three of you are now here…" Indra muttered with a forced grin.

Katsu, standing tall and proud over the shorter man, glared down at Indra before looking to the Holy Knight's sais. "Hmm, interesting. You're radiating mana, but it doesn't feel natural at all…"

"He calls himself a Holy Knight, Katsu," Daisuke then provided, standing about in a lax manner. "Was pretty tough too just now."

Indra subtly began to position his other arm, ready to attack Katsu's lower body and get him to back off. But before he could even move a muscle, Katsu spoke.

"I wouldn't if I were you. Just look to my hand," Katsu said commandingly. He gave Indra's wrist an extra squeeze.

Indra looked to Katsu's hands furtively and was surprised to see that a sleek and dark colored gauntlet adorned Katsu's hand, ending at just above the wrist. To the Holy Knight, it looked more like some kind of bulky glove rather than a gauntlet. He was further surprised when it seemed to 'shift' or 'morph,' its shape changing until it was little more than claw-like appendages that covered Katsu's fingers and sunk in a bit into Indra's wrist, just barely breaking the skin.

Indra's left eyebrow twitched. He was beginning to feel rather nervous and not without reason; in addition to the locations of these three magi, the scroll his captain had provided him with had also included a basic description of the kind of abilities each of them possessed. So he was very much aware of what Katsu's magical weapon, World Ender, was capable of, of how it could erase from existence anything it touches. That Katsu could somehow shift the gauntlet's form and touch him without immediately killing him was something shocking though.

"Oh, it looks like you know a bit about what I'm capable of." Katsu made this comment based on the subtle shift in Indra's facial expression. He saw the man's growing apprehension at being caught in his grasp like this. "In which case, I wouldn't recommend trying anything, for I can simply 'allow' my magical weapon to erase you in an instant."

"Heh," Takehiko couldn't help but chuckle. "Well that was wrapped up relatively quickly. I had just been about to subdue him myself if this battle had dragged on any longer." He folded his arms across his chest as he slowly began to approach Katsu and the captured Holy Knight.

"Mhm…" Daisuke smirked. "That said… care to tell us more about you Holy Knights?" he asked of Indra. "Because seriously, this all sounds pretty interesting to us."

Indra slowly looked away from his captured wrist and gazed upon the other two ancient magi, his expression now blank. But then a second later, that changed. An almost cheeky grin adorned his face now as he snorted. "I must confess: I knew you guys would be tough, but this actually did exceed my expectations a bit. You're more powerful and different from what the files said on you."

"Files…?" Daisuke muttered.

"We hadn't actually anticipated your magical abilities or weapons potentially 'evolving' or anything of the sort," Indra continued, no longer appearing nervous. He didn't even seem to notice Katsu's tightening grip. He shrugged. "Oh well, at any rate, I've achieved my objective."

"Oh yeah?" Takehiko replied. He quirked an eyebrow at the Holy Knight's confidence. "And just what will you do now?"

Indra flicked his wrists minutely, Vajra disappearing from his hands in response to these motions. "Why, take my leave, of course." In spite of still being within Katsu's grasp, who now tightly clenched his left shoulder, Indra lightly bowed to the magi. "This has been rather fun. A shame I couldn't quite get to go all out, but eh, it's just how things go."

Katsu grunted. "Come off it. Just what can you do in your situation? I can erase you from existence just by 'allowing' World Ender to do its natural duty."

"Heh… **Eye of the Storm!**" Those four words Indra spoke carried about them an incredible air of power. Enough to make the ancient magi there cover their eyes as a blinding flash of light made itself known where Indra had been standing, before said light shot up towards the sky, shattering Takehiko's created space and disappearing completely from sight.

By the time the three magi were able to open their eyes again a few seconds later, Indra was gone.

They could only gape marginally as the once sunny and clear sky of Atlas was now a sky filled with dark and ominous clouds before dissipating into nothingness before their very eyes. From the streets below, the magi could already hear the people making many, shock and panic filled comments about this phenomenon.

"Damn it. He got away," Katsu growled. He hadn't been expecting this so-called Holy Knight to actually escape under such circumstances, let alone do so in such a sudden and flashy manner.

"Heh. So what do we do now, Take-yan?" Daisuke asked of Takehiko, putting his hands in his pockets. "Something tells me we haven't seen the last of that guy. And next time around, he might not be showing up on our doorsteps alone."

Takehiko tsked, a little disgruntled over his created space being destroyed so easily. He honestly hadn't thought Indra capable of such a feat as it was certainly not an easy one to accomplish. Looks like these Holy Knights, if Indra was anything to go by, had some power after all. "As it clearly stands, we've underestimated him and vice versa a bit…" he began, speaking to not just Daisuke, but also Katsu who now looked to him dispassionately. "That said, tracking him down isn't really an option right now; he sure hightailed it out of here. And if he could break out of my space like that, tracking him with King's Scripture might not prove all that successful…" Takehiko trailed off, taking a moment to rub his chin in deep thought.

Daisuke and Katsu waited patiently for him to finish until the latter decided to speak. "So?"

Takehiko sighed heavily. "Looks like I'll be making a few calls over the next few days…"

He didn't have to say who he'd be calling for the others to know. "Think they'll be interested in hearing this?" Daisuke asked.

"Oh, I'm sure they'll be more than just 'interested' in hearing about this…" Takehiko muttered. And with those words, he began to walk off, with Daisuke and Katsu in tow.

Looks like their lives were about to get just a bit more complicated.

Elsewhere in Atlas, the authorities were already on the move, having been mobilized to go and already start looking into this strange phenomenon that had just occurred. Even by their usual standards, this kind of response time was impressive. Though if anyone were to ask any of the soldiers already on the move, it was to be expected of James Ironwood.

Said man, in all of his imposing figure, was currently overlooking a good portion of Atlas from his office. "Just what happened…?" he asked aloud to no one in particular. Being a veteran and a general, he had seen more than his fair share of odd things, especially when he and Ozpin had worked alongside one another all those years ago. But a sudden change in the weather and sky was something new to him.

And it most certainly hadn't looked very endearing. It was almost as if some angry god had suddenly shown up to mess with Atlas in some small, perhaps even petty, way. As it stood, he was already getting reports that this strange phenomenon had occurred not just downtown, but had 'spread' for all of a second nearly all across the massive kingdom before its sudden disappearance. Furthermore, there was one area in particular that had been 'hit' relatively hard by this weather change, with temperatures there having actually changed in addition to a number of people – civilians and military personnel alike – being interviewed and having reportedly seen some beam of light travel up into the sky just prior to the storm-like clouds' appearance.

And it was this last fact that bothered James quite a bit. It meant that there was a good chance someone or something had triggered this phenomenon. Now, James knew he could be rather paranoid at times and can overreact with more military force than is necessary… but this entire situation just reeked of wrongness. Whoever or whatever had caused this whole mess most likely didn't have particularly good intentions for any of Atlas' citizens. And if this kind of phenomenon could be caused by a single person or entity, then the general highly doubted a run-of-the-mill hunter or huntress could go up against such a force. Hell, he doubted a team of hunters or huntresses could do much of anything.

But of course, he silently admitted, there was no point in fighting an 'enemy' that had yet to even be identified, much less tracked down.

"Still, I can't afford to remain idle either," he commented.

Turning around so that he now faced his desk, he called up one of his assistants, putting the man on speaker. "Yes sir?" the assistant spoke as soon as he answered the call.

"I have a meeting scheduled with Ozpin in several weeks, right?" James asked of the man.

"That's correct, sir. Meant to discuss the tournament, I believe…" The assistant did little to hide his confusion.

"Get in contact with Ozpin," James requested of him.

"Of course… may I ask why though?" the assistant replied.

"Tell him that our little meeting is going to have to be bumped up quite a bit in our schedules…" James spoke.

Elsewhere, the captain of the Holy Knights was currently taking a break from his current experiments. This self-imposed break of his actually served two purposes: the first purpose naturally being to let him get just a little rest whereas the second purpose is to allow enough time to pass for part of the 'experiment' to progress on its own for a bit. He had implemented a certain 'mixture' and so he'd have to wait a while to see just what will happen overtime. No need to press forward when he ran the risk of it potentially blowing up in his face. Literally.

That said, he had been in the midst of a light nap when he had sensed the return of Indra. "That had been rather fast," he commented as Indra entered the room. "I hadn't been expecting you to use Eye of the Storm."

"My apologies, captain," Indra said, bowing before the man. "I wish I didn't have to use it to escape, but…"

The captain waved off the rest of the apology. "No need to fret. You did what you had to do." He then shifted a bit in his current seat. "So were you able to analyze a magus?"

"Two of them, in fact," Indra replied. "I had attempted to originally fight one and got a slight grasp of his abilities, but he had contact another and I had to fight that one instead. And then the third one, Katsu, showed up. That had been when I had to retreat."

The captain nodded in understanding. "I see. I'll be expecting a full written report from you later on their abilities."

Indra bowed a little. "Of course. And although it had been a brief fight, I was able to test for myself some of their abilities. And to my surprise, it seems like they may have 'evolved' in a manner of speaking…"

That got a quirk of the eyebrows from the captain. "Really now? In that, do be sure to elaborate on that in your report. That aside… your body still fine? Still stable."

"Of course. It's your handiwork after all, captain. There's no way I'd become unstable, as taxing as Eye of the Storm was." Indra's voice was filled with nothing but praise and reverence for the man sitting before him.

The captain chuckled a little. "You flatter me, Indra." Then the small smile that had formed vanished. "Well, for now, it would be best that you do get some rest though. You've completed your task and depending on what I read in your report, it may very well be enough for me to continue another little… 'side project' of mine. One that could possibly aid us all in the near future. But, of course, it will require some more modifications on your part as well as the others."

"We can handle anything you throw our way, captain," Indra stated boldly. "And if it's for our goal, more modification is a meager price to pay."

"Hm, go rest up for now. And I will be expecting your report soon," the captain said, nodding to the man before him.

With yet another respectful bow, Indra slowly turned and took his leave, leaving the captain alone once more with his own thoughts. "Evolved, hmm?" he pondered aloud. A small smile crossed his face momentarily. "So it truly was as I had expected…."

Thinking a little more on this, the captain eventually decided to go back to resting a bit longer. And as he ultimately decided to take a brief nap, if one looked at him closely enough, he sported an almost triumphant smirk.

With Indra, the Holy Knight was simply walking down a hallway in the facility that could essentially be called the Holy Knight's home base. Said facility was hidden deep within the mountains that lied deep in Grimm territory. No one save for the most skilled of hunters and huntresses would ever be able to fight their way through the hordes of Grimm that unknowingly defended them.

Indra was currently deep in thought as he walked down the hallway, heading towards his own room. He just couldn't help but think constantly about the battle that had taken place hardly ten minutes or so ago. And what a battle it had been. Although it had been quite brief, the ancient magus Daisuke had pressed him little by little and with relative ease too.

"These ancient magi sure are something…." he thought as he continued walking.

However, not even a moment later, he was roused from his thoughts when he heard loud and heavy footsteps approach him from another hallway that were perpendicular to the one he was in.

Reaching where these hallways intersected, Indra came face to low-chest level with someone else.

"Back already? How surprising!" the other person said, his voice almost booming.

Said person was very tall, easily more than 8 feet in height and was heavily muscled, his military styled uniform straining itself with small movements on his part. With lightly tanned skin, a rugged face, dark brown hair and black eyes, this behemoth of a man certainly made for an imposing sight.

But Indra was unaffected by this man's appearance at all. Instead, he politely bowed. "Heracles," Indra greeted. "I thought you'd still be asleep."

The man, Heracles, chuckled. "I don't sleep all the time." He turned a little to expose another interesting thing about him that the lighting of the hallway partially hid: the lion ears atop his head. Heracles was a lion-based Faunus. He yawned and brought a hand up to his mouth, showing off his surprisingly sharp nails. "Even I must move about sometime until the captain gives the go ahead."

"Mmm, well I don't think you and the others won't have to wait much longer," Indra spoke, taking on a more casual stance now compared to his uptight posture from meeting with the captain. "As it is, I've already told him some interesting stuff. I plan to write up a formal report for him too and I have a feeling that it might change things up a bit around here."

That got Heracles' attention. "Oh? In what way?"

Indra allowed himself a slight smirk. "You'll just have to wait and see. And you being the first seat amongst us Holy Knights, I'm sure you'll get first pick at whatever the captain may require in the future."

As of now, there were only seven Holy Knights and they were ranked by titles simply known as 'seats' in order to depict their level of power. Indra, for example, was the seventh seat, the weakest of all the Holy Knights… whereas Heracles, being the first seat, is the most powerful of them all.

At Indra's words, Heracles grinned and at the thought of what could come next, he unconsciously began to let out some of his mana. So intense and so great was his mana that the hallways began to violently tremble and slowly start to crack. "Oho… now that is something I'm looking forward to indeed," the lion-type Faunus commented eagerly as he slowly calmed down, reining in his mana.

Indra chuckled. "I'm sure you are." He then bowed respectfully yet again. "Now if you'll excuse me… it's about time I get back to my room." And without another word spoken, he left.

Heracles simply remained where he was, silently watching Indra as he left. Then he grunted as he started to mull things over. "Looks like things will finally start to get interesting around here."

He grinned predatorily, like an animal that had finally caught sight of his weak prey. He was well aware of Indra's mission prior to Indra returning and if the younger Holy Knight was acting like this, then Heracles knew that it had something to do with the ancient magi.

Ah, the ancient magi. How Heracles longed to fight them. And not the 'weakest' of them either, however relative a term that applied to them. No, he wanted to go up against one of the strongest ancient magi currently running around. As it is, the previous one he had fought nearly a decade or so ago hadn't been all that tough. A crafty and skilled warrior to be sure, but ultimately hadn't been able to satisfy his thirst for battle, even when he had ultimately killed him.

That said, he still very much agreed with his captain's goals and would see it through to the end. But being able to fight against these ancient magi, to test his mettle against them, was simply an event that he was greatly looking forward to.

And so it was with a booming laugh that Heracles finally decided to walk off. He couldn't wait to see what will develop within the coming weeks.

* * *

><p>Slowly yet surely, I am already getting there. Wow, progress is being made relatively fast. In all honesty, I had been somewhat worried I'd have been working this story a little slowly, but it looks like I was wrong.<p>

Yeah, little by little, I'll be dropping quite a few surprises – some good and some 'bad' – as I keep the story going. And the little tidbit of sudden info with Heracles there was merely the tip of the iceberg. Just wait until you see what other curveballs I plan to throw!

Until next time everyone. Take care.


	6. Chapter 5

My semester's end approaches! God, I'm not sure why I so eagerly await it (more than usual anyway), but I just can't wait for it to finally happen! I've just been feeling unusually tired and almost apathetic in regards to college this semester, at least when it came to certain assignments. I don't think I've ever procrastinated anything before… damn, guess there is a first time for everything…

Well, that aside, in regards to this fic, the pacing will be picking up little by little. The first few chapters and the first fight were pretty slow, but they were really nothing more than little teasers of the things I have planned for the admittedly distant future. I say this especially when thinking of the fic's climax, of which I already have it pretty planned out. You can expect this chapter and the next to somewhat follow the events of RWBY a bit more before the Holy Knights really force things off the rails and into, for lack of a better word, 'uncharted' territory. And in turn, you can definitely expect the several centuries old team magi to get involved more too…

Chapter 5

Almost an entire week has passed since the events that had occurred in Atlas took place. And since then, there has been a bit of an upheaval in the world. What could only be labeled as 'strange phenomena' had quickly spread not only throughout Atlas, but also through the rest of the kingdoms, if only due to how highly unusual and widespread the phenomena in question was.

As it now stood, a small gathering of people in each kingdom had already taken to forming their own theories about what had happened, with some of these people even resolving to get to the bottom of it all, driven by their own insatiable curiosity.

It was a situation that someone like Glynda Goodwitch was quickly growing tired off.

"And it's in the news yet again…" she commented in annoyance as she lightly paced around the area directly before Ozpin's desk.

As for the headmaster of Beacon himself, he seemed calmer than his comrade and appeared content to simply sip his coffee as he watched her pace about. "Glynda," he eventually started. "You really shouldn't be letting the recurrence of this story get to you."

Glynda shot him a somewhat heated stare, but stopped almost as quickly as she had started. "I know that. After all, you're already looking into it. Still, it's irksome to keep seeing it in the news and played up for all it's worth."

"Mmm…" Ozpin took another sip of his coffee, a long sip at that as he tried to think of what to say in response. Though he wouldn't quite say it aloud, he could feel the same way. Having first been informed of this firsthand by James, the headmaster had already made it a point to conduct his own investigation into things, but kept hitting dead ends, in thanks to all of the theories that now floated about concerning the events of Atlas. So to keep hearing or reading about the phenomena was beginning to rub him the wrong way too.

Still, he did his best to keep up a front. This was made all the easier by the fact that he and Glynda were more 'in the know' about this sort of thing, Ozpin having almost immediately realizing the 'trigger' for this strange event.

Perhaps through sheer instinct or something else, Ozpin and Glynda knew that it was related to magi. Of course, it helped that they were friends with magi themselves… but even excluding this fact, it was clear that the phenomena wasn't the result of a hunter/huntress or a Grimm. No, other forces were at work.

"Well, there is no need to sweat things, Glynda," Ozpin eventually said. "As it stands, all we can do is continue investigating and let the dominoes fall as they stand."

Glynda huffed in slight annoyance, but nodded nonetheless. Ozpin did have a point. "I know," she replied crisply. A pause. "Do the others know anything?" she then asked.

She didn't have to say their names at all for Ozpin to know who she meant. "Naruto, Ryuichi, and Miki are still in contact with the others over this. For now, they're still just as much in the dark as we are," he answered in short order.

Indeed, just a few days ago, the former team magi received a most surprising call from an old friend of theirs. Takehiko had called them up to personally inform them of what had really taken place in Atlas and needless to say they had been very much surprised by the news. And when they had passed on this information to Ozpin and Glynda, the two of them had been even more shocked. Still, it hadn't shocked them enough for them to not capitalize on the new information, having used that to try and make further headway into their investigation, though it had turned out to still be a futile motion; to think these Holy Knights were so secretive.

"So have they been able to find out anything else?" Glynda now asked, leaning slightly against Ozpin's desk.

She watched as the headmaster shook his head. "They're having about as much success as we are. Even to them, these Holy Knights are quite new and shocking to hear of. Last I checked with them, they were still trying to get into contact with the other 'ancient' magi," Ozpin explained, using the same term that they had learned from the Holy Knight. Then Ozpin sighed. "And sometime very early next week, James will be coming here to personally discuss this with me, once his own investigation proceeds a little more."

The blond woman 'tsked' at those words. "I sure hope he doesn't make a show out of coming here…" She said this with slight worry; James always had this rather bad habit of showing up with more soldiers in tow than is necessary, often unintentionally inciting worry in whoever happened to be in the area to personally see his usual 'show of force.'

"I suppose we'll have to wait and see about that." Ozpin cracked a slight smile, trying to lighten the rather tense mood with a little humor.

Judging by the marginal shift in Glynda's posture, it seemed that he was a tad bit successful. "Maybe. Maybe not."

Ultimately, the two of them continued to talk a little more before deciding to wait until later to discuss things further. It was only the morning of a brand new day. There'd be plenty of time later to continue talking about what to do next.

Elsewhere, Naruto and Ryuichi were in the midst of some light sparring. Namely, they were in a created space brought forth by Naruto's power. More specifically, they were in Ai Space.

The two friends, dressed in the same casual clothes they had worn to talk with Ozpin, fought it out without rest nor quarter.

Over the many centuries they had been alive, the two of them had only further refined their skills with Ryuichi's taijutsu, being a mixture of nearly a dozen different styles, having long since been completed while Naruto had further improved upon and in a sense also perfected his own self-taught fighting style.

The two magi clashed with a fierceness unlike anything the current era had ever seen, with Ryuichi constantly keeping on the move, trying to overwhelm his friend with his speed, raining down upon Naruto an impossible-to-count number of blows, ranging from punches to palm strikes to kicks. But because of having obtained the power of Tatsuya, who had been heralded as the 'ultimate magus' at Ragnarok's end, Naruto's physical abilities far outstripped Ryuichi's own and so he was able to repel his best friend's fierce and calculating assault with ease and with the minimal movement required.

In spite of how fierce their clash was though, the two were talking and almost calmly so. "So did you get into contact with Yuko?" Ryuichi asked as he skidded suddenly to Naruto's side, going for a grapple that, were it successful, would've applied enough pressure on Naruto's body to crack a mountain in two.

Naruto simply leapt forward and spun around, throwing a kick aimed for the back of Ryuichi's head. "Tried to, but she was busy. Had to leave a message," he replied casually.

Ryuichi used his own momentum to roll forward, avoiding Naruto's kick before then leaping up with a raised hand aimed for Naruto's stomach, the fingers outstretched as if to impale the blond. "Hmm and Mari and I could only barely get into contact with Masami. Guess we've all grown pretty busy over the past decade or two…"

Naruto lightly jumped and blocked Ryuichi's attack with his left hand, sliding his fingers in between Ryuichi's before suddenly clenching them, trapping Ryuichi's hand into place. "Yeah, seems that way…" He then spun again, this time dragging Ryuichi with him before throwing him in a judo throw. "So were you able to pass on the info to her?" he asked as he let go of Ryuichi.

Ryuichi went sailing many miles across Ai Space before finally losing enough momentum to fall towards the ground. He flipped in midflight and landed perfectly on his feet – just in time to guard against Naruto's sudden appearance in the form of a barrage of light punches aiming for his torso. "We were. She said she'll also be looking into it once she had a bit more free time on her hands." Ryuichi grunted right after he said that. Although he was much stronger and faster and tougher than he was back in Ragnarok, Naruto's abilities were much greater, to the point where even his 'light' punches and kicks could shatter mountains. He found himself skidding across the ground for nearly a whole kilometer, his bones creaking from the sheer force of the assault.

"That's good," Naruto spoke, taking a brief second to pause and allow Ryuichi enough time to mount a defense. "So what do you think about all of this? These Holy Knights Takehiko mentioned."

Ryuichi vanished from sight and reappeared in front of Naruto, attempting to drive his fist directly into Naruto's face, of which the blond magus avoided by tilting his head back a bit. "Honestly? I'm not sure. Though considering Takehiko said the mana felt artificial…"

Naruto ducked and went for a leg sweep. Ryuichi leapt lightly over his leg and threw his own kick that Naruto blocked even as he now forced himself back onto his own two feet. "You think these Holy Knights aren't actually magi." Naruto stated it as a statement rather than a question.

Ryuichi hummed, unleashing another barrage of punches and kicks that forced Naruto back considerably, the two of them now heading for a relatively tiny spot in between two mountains. "Well yeah. It would be the most obvious thing. At least, in regards to the one Takehiko and Daisuke fought."

"Huh." Naruto paused momentarily to suddenly sidestep so that he was now to Ryuichi's left before shoving the black haired magus into the side of the mountain, cracking it. He then unleashed a punch that left a massive hole in the mountainside as Ryuichi pushed himself out of the mountain in time to parry the blow. The two of them started to then throw a number of elbow strikes and punches at one another, testing themselves in what could truly be called close quarters combat, for the spot they were in was small enough that merely backing away from one another immediately resulted in them pressing their backs against the mountains. "Yeah, I can see what you mean." A pause. "Still, wow. I mean, I knew things felt too peaceful nowadays, but…"

Ryuichi lashed out with a meager kick to Naruto's legs, hoping to make his balance falter enough for him to grab hold of him and capitalize on it, but to no avail as Naruto simply raised his own foot and countered him. To which, of course, Ryuichi responded with his own counter in the form of a sudden left elbow blow to Naruto's exposed side. "I know what you mean. Maybe it was some kind of premonition."

Naruto suddenly turned so that the mountains were on either side of him, with his front facing the opening they had entered from. He struck the mountains with simultaneous punches, using more force than he was earlier. The mountains shattered completely in response and rocks and dirt went flying everywhere. This was meant to obscure Ryuichi's line of sight, which it did.

But even then, Ryuichi kept his other sharp senses focused and thanks to them and many years of training and battle, easily predicted Naruto's attack from behind, turning enough to catch the kick to the side Naruto had thrown at him. Not letting go of his leg, Ryuichi struck out with a right backhand that failed to hit its mark, Naruto once more tilting his head back to avoid it. He shook his leg free just as Ryuichi attempted to follow it up with a punch, jumping away to put some distance between the two of them.

"I kind of doubt it, Ryuichi," Naruto said flatly. "Even with Uroarbrunner, I couldn't have predicted these Holy Knights showing up, much less them picking a fight with us 'ancient magi.'" He then rushed forward, his right arm raised high before bringing it down in a chopping motion. Ryuichi managed to block it, but even then the sheer force of the blow cratered the entire area and almost buried Ryuichi up to his knees. "And I wonder just how many of them there are too…" Now Naruto sounded a little worried.

However, it should be noted that this worry wasn't worry for himself. Not that he'd want to sound conceited, but he was certain these Holy Knights would pose no real threat to his life, for as the victor of Ragnarok, his already considerable abilities had been boosted to greater heights upon absorbing Tatsuya's mana. And with his ancestor's own magical abilities at his disposal as well as the continued training/development of his own Da Capo ability and Naruto was certain he'd be more hard-pressed to not accidentally kill these Holy Knights should they ever come for him.

No, his real worry was for his wife, his best friend and his wife, and for the rest of the world. Going by what Takehiko had told him about this Indra guy, it was clear that these Holy Knights packed considerable power, on par with magi themselves and therefore above and beyond what the warriors of today could hope to handle. So the kind of destruction and death that could be wrought worried Naruto greatly. As great as his own abilities no were, there was always a chance things could go wrong. And as they knew nothing of the Holy Knights' intentions, they were essentially an unknown X factor, a time bomb just waiting to go off.

Ryuichi, thinking along similar lines, nodded. "A fair point. At any rate though, we should just focus on the here and now. Worrying over what-ifs isn't going to do us much good." He let up on his fighting stance, dusting his clothes off.

Naruto did the same, fixing up his wrinkled dress shirt and shirt. "Yeah. Not to mention, if we're lucky, the others might be able to find some time and meet up with us to discuss this in person. Because something just tells me that if the Holy Knight was willing to target magi like Daisuke and Takehiko, who are all the way in Atlas, then they'd probably be gunning for the rest of us too."

He then took a brief second to look up at the sky and mutter two words. "Die Walkure." With those two words uttered in addition to a quick snap of the fingers, Ai Space disappeared, returning the two magi to the real world.

Just as they shimmered back into the real world, so too did their wives, Miki and Mari, who had also been training in another 'space' that Naruto had created for them. The two women blinked in surprise when they were returned to the real world alongside their husbands.

"Oh, already?" Miki asked, Svafrlami being firmly held in her hands. Dressed in the same dress she had worn to Ozpin's office, she didn't so much as sport a single speck of dirt on it, even after the light spar she had just had with Mari.

Naruto nodded sheepishly. He had been so into his own spar with Ryuichi and so deep in thought over the recent developments that he kind of forgotten about leaving his wife's space intact so that she could've continued to spar with Mari. "Yeah… sorry about that. If you two want, I could…"

It was Mari who answered. "Nah, don't sweat it. We had just been finishing up ourselves anyway," she said with a smile. Having already put away her magical weapon prior to returning to the real world, Mari stretched a bit. Dressed in a simple shirt and long combat skirt, Mari simply played with her hair a bit after stretching, thinking. "So what now?" She could tell just by the looks on her husband's face and Naruto's that they had been talking about something serious. And in all likelihood, it had to be about these Holy Knights.

Miki hefted Svafrlami, her eyes narrowing as she too took note of their expressions. She lifted the blade for a moment, taking in its form. No longer was the blade encased in that heavy black lump from the old days. Now through constant training over the centuries and a slight 'evolution' of her abilities, the blade now sat in her hands in all its intricate glory, minus the shine it usually exhibited when using Tyrfing.

Miki sighed before dismissing the blade. "I really need to quit that habit…" she thought mildly. She had become quite used to looking at her blade for a while before dismissing it, as if to somehow engrain into memory everything she had done with it from the moment she summoned it to the moment she stowed it away.

And now focused entirely on her husband and friends, she folded her arms underneath her ample bosom before asking a question herself. "Yeah… so just what about these Holy Knights?" she spoke, capitalizing on the question Mari had just asked.

Naruto and Ryuichi shared a look before answering. "For now, all we really can do is just wait until the others get back to us," the former of the two spoke. "As it is, we've only managed to pass the info onto Masami and I left a message for Yuko so…" Naruto trailed off.

Ryuichi continued for him. "As it is, we'll have to wait until everyone else has responded and meet up with us. That way, if or when these Holy Knights appear again, we'll be ready for them."

His wife Mari nodded, humming along with every word he spoke. "Makes sense to me." Then she took a brief moment to look around. "Just occurred to me, but where's Hanako?"

At that question, Miki scratched her cheek sheepishly. "A-Ah, she's currently…"

Naruto continued for Miki and with far less sheepishness. No, it'd be more accurate to say that he spoke with a certain level of vindictiveness. "She's currently serving a 'punishment' for the mess she's caused me."

"O-Oh right, the whole rumor thing about her being your…" Mari spoke, only to trail off. An awkward smile was on her face. She and the others there slightly sweat dropped as they recalled the veritable storm of rumors that had begun to circulate around the academy nearly a week ago. Apparently, Hanako had not so quietly said a number of things that could've very easily been taken as meaning something else out of its original context. To which, the students did exactly that and since then, Naruto's reputation has taken some interesting turns among Beacon's population, with many students and faculty being shocked and in some cases awed(?!) by what they've heard. This was very much to Naruto's chagrin.

"Come to think of it," Ryuichi now spoke, looking to Naruto, the previous topic now forgotten for the time being. "Just what did you make her do anyway?"

Naruto didn't verbally respond. Instead, he simply smiled.

Currently within Beacon Academy, in a certain hallway, teams RWBY and JNPR and a number of other students were bearing witness to an interesting site.

"Muuuuuu….~" Hanako whined quietly, comical tears running down the side of her face.

"Okay…." Jaune spoke. He looked to Hanako and then to his equally confused classmates/friends. "This is new."

"U-Uh huh…" Ruby responded.

They simply couldn't help but stare, for Hanako was currently sitting on her knees up against the wall. She sported a comical bump atop her head, as if someone had struck her particularly hard. In her hands, she held buckets filled to the brim with water, her arms held spread apart so that the buckets were a decent height off the floor. What's more, there was a sign placed around her neck that read 'from now on, I won't say anything that can be misinterpreted' in bold print.

"Sooooo…." Yang dragged out the word as she approached the humanoid magical weapon. "What happened to you?"

"Master didn't like the false rumors going around," Hanako muttered feebly.

Yes, we can tell…" Weiss now spoke, a forced smile upon her face. The rest of her team shot her slightly worried looks. For reasons that they didn't or simply couldn't know/understand, Weiss had seemed particularly upset when the 'Incident' as it is now called occurred all those days ago. And now with Hanako in her current position, it looked as if Weiss couldn't make up her mind about whether or not she wanted to lecture the girl.

"But did professor Namikaze have to punish you like this?" Pyrrha now asked of Hanako, concerned for her. That bump on her head didn't look natural and from what the passing-by students were saying, Hanako has already been out here in this position for some time now.

"Well, this isn't exactly the first time I caused Master some trouble…" Hanako began. "Though this is probably the worse 'punishment' I've received so far."

The teams simply stared at her. And then Nora Valkyrie began to laugh. "Sounds like professor Namikaze is an interesting guy!" she proclaimed, using a sort of logic that only she could seemingly understand.

"Nora, you really shouldn't be so lively like that…" her long-time friend, Lie Ren, replied almost nonchalantly, trying to placate his friend.

Now it was Blake who spoke. "Hanako," she began. "Now that I think of it, just what is it that you do here in Beacon Academy anyway?" Not all that shocked by the punishment Hanako had to deal with, she was instead more curious about Hanako herself. She knew that Yang told her to simply let live and wait to see what Hanako does, but since it looked like Hanako would be more prone to answering questions in her current timid-ish state, then she might as well see if she could get some info out of her.

"Ah… I'm here as security," Hanako then answered.

That certainly got both teams' attention. "Security? For Beacon?" Ruby asked, tilting her head in confusion.

"Sort of." Hanako sighed. "I… am Master's strongest sword and invincible shield." She stated these words in such a matter-of-factly tone of voice that the teams couldn't help but unconsciously take a step back. Hanako's expression was no longer one of childish pain, but one of a warrior that had made a lifelong oath. "Wherever he goes, I follow. Whatever and whoever he wants to protect, I will gladly do the same. Just as he cherishes life, so do I. And he wants to make sure the world gets to experience true peace and I'm willing to help him achieve it. To that end, I will do whatever it takes to help out. That said, for now, as long as he and his/my friends reside here along with you students, I will protect this place with all I've got."

A silence fell upon the hallway, the chatter among the students ceasing virtually immediately as they heard her words. Even the normally rambunctious Nora and semi-haughty Weiss were cowed into silence.

Then Hanako smiled and the 'spell' cast upon them all was broken. "Well, I can't really be saying those words so lightly considering I'm being punished right now…" she muttered sheepishly.

"N-No!" Ruby now approached the humanoid magical weapon and took her hands into her own. Her silver eyes were all but sparkling as she looked at Hanako. "Don't sweat it at all! That was just so cool~!" Ruby nearly squealed, fangirling all over Hanako now. Being an impressionable and somewhat socially awkward 15 year old, it was rather easy for her to get worked over things, especially since hunters and huntresses were virtually idols to her. But something about the way Hanako spoke just now simply put the magical weapon on a high pedestal for the young girl.

"Eh heh heh heh~." Now Hanako reverted back to her usual personality. She'd be scratching the back of her head right now if not for the buckets, but nonetheless, it didn't deter her cheer. "You think so?"

Weiss, watching this, could only shake her. "Serious and respectable one minute, a child again the next…" she muttered, taking verbal note of the way Hanako's mood seems to shift.

"Still…" Pyrrha now spoke. She was smiling. "She seems respectable. Dependable." Having always been a nice girl, the redhead liked to give people the benefit of the doubt and in regards to Hanako, although she did seem to act like a child, the way she spoke just now… Pyrrha was sure that Hanako would definitely follow through on those claims.

Next to her, Jaune could only laugh awkwardly, unsure of how to really react to Hanako's words. "If only I could sound _that_ confident about my abilities…" he thought tiredly. In all the days that have passed since his spar with that girl in combat class, he's yet to see any real improvements in his fighting skill and it was finally beginning to eat away at him. It burned him all the more to see the rest of his teammates improve even more, watching as Pyrrha's and Nora's and Ren's movements all became just a little sharper and quicker, their skills more honed with every passing day whereas he was… stuck. And it didn't help his confidence either that guys like Cardin still liked to use him as their personal punching bag.

"No, I gotta stay strong…" he thought, shaking his head lightly. He couldn't let such negative thoughts get to him. After all, his parents had both told him that negativity will only produce bad results. So he had to stay as mentally fortified as he could. If not for his own sake, then at least for the sake of his team. As their leader, he was the one responsible for their safety in whatever future dangers they may find themselves in.

He was roused from his thoughts when he heard Weiss make another comment. "I'll be more inclined to believe your words when you do something about those White Fang people. Damn Faunus…" she muttered.

At those words, Blake looked at the snowy white haired girl icily. "Weiss…" she began. Underneath her bow, her cat ears twitched quickly yet violently in response to her flaring emotions. Thankfully for her, no one took notice of this.

Save for just one person.

Hanako observed Blake silently as she and the rest of team RWBY and JNPR began to converse before making their way to class, bidding Hanako goodbye after a time.

It really wasn't until the two teams and the rest of the students left the hallway that the humanoid magical weapon finally let out a sigh that she had been holding in. "So I kind of was right," she thought passively. "Judging by her reaction, she used to be in the White Fang."

She, along with her master, the rest of team magi, and Ozpin, had known from the start that Blake was Faunus. It was simply too obvious to them, though it most certainly seemed as though the bow provided enough of a cover to fool the other students of Beacon. However, it had been also obvious that there was more to Blake than what meets the eye too; her fighting skills were too advanced for someone that hadn't even attended a combat school prior to coming here to Beacon. This wasn't even getting into the fact that files on a number of White Fang incidents featured reports concerning an individual with features a lot like Blake's own, though said files were very much classified.

But what really helped Hanako was her own 'intuition.' More specifically, Mimisbrunner. Back when she had first been summoned by Naruto, this 'sight' of hers only allowed her to observe and record information on others as it came, so if the opponent purposely kept an ability or skill hidden, Hanako would be none the wiser about it. But that had been centuries ago. Now having developed the ability further, Mimisbrunner was capable of virtually peering into a select 'target's' past, more specifically showing the magical weapon not only almost all of the target's abilities and skills, but also key events that would explain said target's abilities/skills in the first place.

As powerful an ability as this was though, it still takes a bit of time for her to accurately obtain the necessary information. And it wasn't until now that she was finally able to discover the 'truth' of Blake Belladonna.

And it saddened Hanako considerably.

She and her Master and friends never once thought lowly of Faunus. Hell, a number of their friends from decades past have been Faunus. To see the injustice that these people had to go through simply because of certain 'differences' angered the magi greatly.

That said, it also worried them too; ever since the White Fang changed its ways from peaceful protest to a more militant and terroristic approach, they've come to worry over the possible eruption of another human-Faunus war. Especially since it looked as though the White Fang was now getting help from Roman Torchwick of all people, a man whose strength and skill was only outdone by his criminal cunning.

"Hmmm…" Hanako, even now in the midst of her 'punishment,' could only think of one thing now: the storm that was inevitably brewing.

And sooner or later… it was going to come striking.

Elsewhere, Roman Torchwick was finding himself having yet another not-good day. Not exactly a bad day, but not good either.

"I'm sorry," he began, removing the cigar from his mouth. "Mind repeating that for me again?"

Cinder, who had stopped by his current hidey hole to talk with him, stayed calm in the face of his growing irritation. "In a few days' time, there will be a large shipment of Dust arriving at Vale's port. I want you to go and get it all for me."

The professional criminal looked at the black haired woman with raised eyebrows. Then he actually snarled. "Are you kidding me? It's one thing to go around stealing Dust from your corner store Dust shops… but now you want me to go and steal a veritable mine of Dust from a freaking port?!" He was getting incredibly frustrated. Here Cinder stood before him, casually requesting of him to go and steal all of that Dust as if it was an easy task, like going to buy groceries. Did this woman not understand just how hard it is to steal from small places? Especially in Vale, where he had to worry about hunters and huntresses roaming around in addition to the usual police force? Because it was definitely harder than it looked and required a considerable amount of planning. And now she wants him to go for a place much bigger than just a simple Dust shop.

Cinder smirked slowly. "What? Don't feel up to the challenge, Roman?"

Oh how much he wanted to hit her. Roman wanted nothing more than to take his cane and hit her right across the cheek. What kept him from doing so was the fact that Cinder was a league or two above him. Starting a fight wasn't going to end well for him, especially since he's come to deduce that she has some rather powerful allies hiding in the shadows. "I would feel up to it," he began. "If I had more than just two or three days notice! I'm not sure just how you plan out your little secret agenda, but-."

"Roman." Cinder's voice lost its calmness and gained a more chilling edge to it, silencing him immediately. But as soon as it had appeared, her calmness returned. "Relax. I know that I am asking a bit… much of you. But don't worry too much."

"And why's that?" Roman asked, taking a puff of his cigar.

"Because just the other day, I got an interesting call from… a comrade of mine," Cinder began a little slowly. Indeed, her master had called the other day to inquire about what's been going on. It had been him that had suggested the port in the first place. And in turn, he also offered a little 'aid' that, should she be able to convince Roman to accept the job, would definitely make things easier. "He's willing to lend you some extra manpower to handle the job."

Now that got Roman's interest. Not enough to make his frustration die down, but enough to make him willing enough to listen. "And just how much extra manpower are we talking about? Because those goons Junior lent me positively _sucked_ and those damn Faunus from the White Fang are only marginally more competent."

The black haired woman allowed herself a chuckle. "Why, a single person."

That wasn't what Roman had wanted to hear. Throwing his cigar aside, he glared at Cinder. "Are you yanking my leg here?! Just one extra person?!"

"Not just anyone though," Cinder replied. She began to lightly walk around the room. "A… Holy Knight. Really, Roman, you should feel honored."

"Holy Knight?" Roman repeated the term in confusion.

"Yes. And not just any Holy Knight either…" Cinder trailed off. "Let's just say that with him alone, you could forgo stealth entirely for this job if you so desired."

Roman quirked an eyebrow, surprised and impressed. "Is this guy really that powerful an asset? Enough for me to actually forget about port security?"

"Roman, he's so powerful that you could go up against Vale's _and_ Atlas' entire military combined and emerge victorious as long as he is with you," Cinder said with a smirk.

Roman simply stared at her, no longer feeling frustrated. Instead, he thought this over. And he was at an impasse. On the one hand, such an ally would definitely be most helpful, sheer curiosity about this guy aside. On the other hand, this person appeared to be one of Cinder's elusive allies and that fact alone spoke volumes to him. It also raised a few questions too, like why Cinder simply couldn't have this mysterious ally of hers aid her in her own agenda rather than rely on him.

"Well?" Cinder then asked, snapping him out of his thoughts. "What's it going to be, Roman?"

The man stayed quiet. First for several seconds, then for longer. Ultimately, nearly two whole minutes passed before he finally gave her an answer.

"Fine then. I'll do it."

* * *

><p>Oh man, what a time it's been recently. I seriously can't wait until college is fully done for me. Sure, once I graduate I'll have to get a job and all that real world jazz, but at least I'll get paid for my troubles rather than have to pay to go to college.<p>

Anyways, as it is the nearly the end of my semester, finals are coming up, so I can't be too sure of how much time I'll have on my hands to work on the next chapter. Nonetheless, I'll do my best to work on this fic.

And just a few more weeks until Kadenz Fermata comes out! Hope someone translates it so I can keep up with it.

Until next time, everyone. Take care and have a Happy Thanksgiving!


	7. Chapter 6

God above, these past several days have been stressful! But thankfully, it's all over now. Just have to deal with my finals and I am pretty much done. Of course, make it sound so easy to my own ears… sigh….

Well that said, from pretty much this chapter and onwards, things will definitely be progressing differently than what is shown in RWBY canon. So once the next battle goes down, expect things to no longer be following what's already occurred in RWBY! And it's my hope that you all will enjoy this…

Now onto the chapter!

Chapter 6

"Slow down, slow down…" a woman softly said, speaking soothingly to a number of children energetically running around the school yard during their recess time.

The kids in question obeyed the woman without fail nor hesitation. "Okay, teacher Yuko!" they all cried out in one voice.

Yuko smiled beautifully as they did slow their running a bit yet still very much retaining their livelihood.

She's changed a bit since Ragnarok. No longer was she a thin and somewhat short girl. Now physically in her mid-twenties, Yuko's body had actually filled out considerably while still retaining its slender, almost petite form. Although her skin was still rather pale, it lacked the 'coldness' from long ago, radiating a more ethereal beauty if anything else now. Combined with her equally pale hair that went down to just a bit past her shoulders along with her piercing red eyes and soft features, she made for quite a sight.

Dressed in simple shoes, blue jeans, and a long sleeve white shirt, the red eyed ancient magus patted herself down, getting rid of whatever dirt may have clung to her.

Looking over the school yard, she couldn't help but smile at the sight of all the children playing so carefreely. This was sight made all the more wonderful by the fact that this school was one in the kingdom of Vacuo, where conditions were certainly… tiresome to deal with.

More like a desert than anything else, people here had to adapt in order to establish any kind of civilization, but they had managed to do so centuries ago without too much trouble. Yuko figured it was because Sunagakure had once been here on this very continent and the people just happened to be descendants of those long dead people.

"I could always be wrong though…" Yuko thought as she waved to another group of kids that were waving to her from one corner of the playground. "Still, at any rate, it's nice to be working like this…"

After Ragnarok had concluded, she had resolved to explore the world and explore the world she did prior to finally settling down and starting a family. Unlike Ryuichi though, she hadn't exactly 'lucked out' in her choice of a spouse, who wasn't a magus and so it had only been a matter of decades before her husband died and her family virtually moved on. But while it did sadden her a bit, Yuko remained strong; she, her husband, and their children had loved one another dearly even after she had revealed to them her magus status. And although her children may not be alive, her family line still continued and that was good enough for her.

Incidentally, it had also been in the raising of her own children that she had decided to become a teacher of sorts to young children. Having also been inspired by her long since deceased siblings, she also took to quietly creating an orphanage and school here in Vacuo many years back that would take in and provide for children of all ages. And although being a magus meant she couldn't exactly remain as the 'face' for the orphanage and school she established – sooner or later, people would've found it odd that she wouldn't be physically aging – Yuko was content to be working as a 'newbie' teacher for young kids. And at her own school to boot too. Life was certainly funny in that respect.

However, she knew that such a time of 'humor' and 'peace' would soon be ending. In addition to the numerous Grimm still roaming the land of Remnant, there was the most interesting message she had received from Naruto just several days ago.

"Holy Knights…" Yuko thought to herself as she moved about the playground, tending to anyone who may have hurt themselves playing. "Never would've imagined people like them existing."

She had thought long and hard on what information Naruto had left for her in the message and had come to agree with what he had proposed: a long overdue reunion of sorts between them, the 'ancient magi' as the Holy Knights apparently called them. Given how one of them had gone after Takehiko and had definitely been hostile towards them, Yuko could tell that a storm was brewing.

And it was about time she made preparations to wither it. "In just a few more days…" she muttered to herself as recess then ended and the children returned to their classes. "Just a few more days, and it'll be time for us to finally meet again, everyone."

Elsewhere, there was yet another familiar person currently caught up with work. And quite a bit of it too. "Really, it seems like the paperwork never ends," a 'young' woman commented daintily, more amused than put off by the workload. And why should it bother her after all? She's had many years to get used to it.

"Sorry madam, but it's how it is," her assistant, a young woman with rather plain features and dressed in a blouse and work appropriate skirt, replied.

Her boss simply shrugged it off. "Well, it can't be helped after all," she said dismissively.

As she chuckled a bit, her assistant found herself for not the first time in slight awe of her boss.

Looking like a woman in her mid-twenties or so, said boss sported a most curvaceous and well endowed figure, shown off slightly in the elegant work dress she wore, complimenting her seemingly perfect skin. With captivating blue eyes, luscious black hair that went down to halfway down her back and a regal air about her, it was clear to anyone, man or woman, that the CEO of the Schnee family's rival corporation was a true beauty, unearthly so.

She shook herself out of her reverie and continued to speak. "That said, madam… just why the sudden change in your schedule? I don't recall you ever really taking some time off for anything…"

Her boss smiled. "Ah, something came up, I suppose you could say. Not related at all to work, but rather to something a bit more… personal." Her smile took on a nostalgic quality. "And I'll also be seeing someone from my past for the first time in a long time… so there is also that to look forward to."

At that, her assistant perked up. Her boss rarely spoke of anything related to her past and as such it was a subject of much intrigue to many other people. "Really?" she inquired.

"Mhm. A shame he is married though…" her boss commented offhandedly. "He was really the only for me as far as I'm concerned."

Her assistant nearly goggled. "I-I see…" Ever since her boss had risen to the position of CEO meteorically, there have been many attempts by many different kinds of people to get into her good graces. Of these attempts, many of them had been done with the aim of 'partnership' with her. And her boss had, albeit politely, refused each and every 'offer.' It was to the point where many now began to wonder if perhaps she was batting for the other team or even asexual… but it looked like they just got proven wrong.

"Ah, but I've talked enough about this, I suppose," her boss then said. "For now, let us just get the rest of the work done. After all, I want nothing to delay me once I leave for Vale." She then motioned for her assistant to carry on with her duties.

"A-Ah, of course…" the assistant then trailed off, leaving the grand office and quickly at that too. Her boss may certainly be a woman of great intellect, wit, and patience, but she demanded nothing short of the best from those working for her.

And so it was now that she was alone that Masami, CEO of the Four Leaves Dust Company, finally allowed herself a true smile of nostalgia and anticipation. "To think that these… these Holy Knights would really exist… their seeming hostility aside, I wonder just how things will be shaken up…"

To anyone who could've possibly been listening, one would think Masami was perhaps fine with these Holy Knights and their actions. This was far from the truth. She was just as much 'threatened' by them as her fellow ancient magi were. However, that wasn't to say that she was going to simply show her worry aloud, not even in private. That said, she certainly had to admit that for one Holy Knight to be capable of fighting on par with them was impressive. If the other Holy Knights were packing just as much power, then the slight urgency for this 'reunion of the ancient magi' was understandable. Furthermore, it would seem that Ryuichi, when he had called her to inform her of all this, was unaware as to how many Holy Knights existed and the same went for everyone else.

Things certainly were going to get shaken up, it would seem. And although she knew this was somewhat wrong of her, Masami couldn't help but smile a bit in slight anticipation of it all; it meant that sooner or later, she and her fellow ancient magi would have the chance to cut loose after centuries of hiding.

She almost couldn't wait for that to happen.

Meanwhile, in Vale, Ryuichi was finding himself a little torn over his current 'assignment.' He knew that he, his wife, Naruto, Miki, and Hanako had all pledged their support to Ozpin and promised they'd watch over the students of Beacon… but now the black haired magus couldn't help but wonder if maybe Ozpin was going a little too far.

He thought this for he was currently watching from afar one Blake Belladonna. As of two days ago, the young huntress in training had unintentionally outed herself as a Faunus to her teammates before running away. Her teammates had been looking for her ever since with little rest.

Now, while a runaway student was certainly a cause of concern, the main reason why Ryuichi was tailing her was because of Blake's less than stellar past. He, and consequentially his wife and friends, was aware of Blake's former ties to the White Fang. Although they all knew she had turned over a new leaf long ago, there was a slight concern that former associates of hers would track her down and rope her into trouble since she was on her own now and without her teammates.

Or so Ozpin had reasoned before requesting Ryuichi to personally find her and shadow her from afar.

Intellectually, Ryuichi could understand his reasoning. Although they knew very little of Blake's past in regards to the White Fang, they knew just enough to understand that the group may be less than amicable to Blake should they ever cross paths again. And with said group now apparently working with Roman Torchwick, who had lately been targeting places all across Vale, there was a small yet ever growing chance that Blake may run into a former 'comrade.' And it would be up to Ryuichi to ensure that Blake, being a cherished friend of team RWBY's members and student of Beacon, remained safe.

"But it feels more like I'm tailing a criminal with every second…" he muttered as he lightly moved from one rooftop to another, keeping a distance of roughly 600 meters from Blake as to remain unseen. Indeed, with how Blake had so abruptly run off from her team and the academy in addition to how she still remained wandering almost aimlessly around town, it would seem that the cat Faunus had little intention to head back to Beacon right now.

As it now stood to him, the girl was currently heading away from the city itself and more towards a port of all things. Ryuichi figured it was because over there it was pretty quiet and devoid of people, especially since now it was virtually night time.

However, it became apparent only a handful of minutes later that tonight wasn't going to be a quiet night for this particular area and it was in the form of a ship beginning to fly in from overhead.

Instinctively, Ryuichi hid himself, slipping into the shadows before whoever was flying spotted him. As he did so, a sudden shiver made itself known to him and in such a way that he immediately redirected his attention from Blake to the ship overhead.

"Something's up…" he muttered to himself. Of course, one would think that he was referring to the most obvious sight of the ship heading for the port, but it wasn't that that held his attention.

There was something or someone aboard the ship that was setting off alarm bells in the ancient magus' head.

Ryuichi watched in silence as the ship headed for the port, his eyes widening as he then took note of two things: one, off in the far distance, he could see a number of huge cargo loads filled with Dust, said substance having been shipped in sometime earlier today. And second, Blake was now heading for the port, no doubt just as intrigued by the ship's presence as Ryuichi was.

Without even the slightest bit of sound, Ryuichi gave chase after both Blake and the ship. Tonight was no longer going to be an uneventful one, it'd seem.

As for Blake, the Faunus huntress was currently in something of a mental rut. Never had she intended for her teammates to find out about her Faunus status… well, perhaps that hadn't been true. She probably would've told them eventually, but not for a long while. Not until she was sure that they could be truly trusted. But Weiss just had to go and start railing against the White Fang and Faunus in general after they all had seen a monkey-type Faunus run from the cops. It had angered her so much that she had started to argue with Weiss and ultimately slip up, revealing more than she had ever planned.

And now look at what that's led her to. Out here roaming Vale without even the slightest thought on where to go. And now here was this ship flying out to the port.

"What's going on?" Blake wondered as she ran towards the port, trying to keep the ship in sight.

A part of her silently asked of her to stop what she was doing. Clearly whatever was going on was something most definitely out of the ordinary, something that one shouldn't simply walk into. But at the same time, the rest of her screamed to go and see what was happening. And so it was perhaps against her better logic that Blake put on a sudden burst of speed, almost anxious to see just what would become of this night.

Up in the ship – the Bullhead, it's called – the White Fang members were currently resting up against the side of the ship, waiting for the Bullhead to touchdown.

In spite of their calm façade, which was helped by the masks they had long since taken to wearing, they couldn't help but feel nervous around their most recent… ally.

"Hrmm, you all sure are a quiet bunch, eh?" Heracles remarked with an amused grin.

The 1st seat of the Holy Knights had joined the White Fang for the time being, on order from his captain. Apparently, with how things were currently going, the captain was going to be in considerable need of Dust and he needed it soon. And given the ever busy schedule of his apprentice, Cinder, amongst other things, the captain had requested of him to go and aid Cinder's little troupe with securing this particular Dust load.

Now Heracles, as lax as he may appear to be now, was no unconcerned fool. If the captain would request him, the strongest of the Holy Knights, to go and do such a little 'errand,' then that meant that something may come of this night. His captain was a very intelligent man, capable of planning out quite a few different things and being able to know what was going to happen in advance on more than one occasion. In fewer words… Heracles was convinced that something was going to become of this night.

His grin took on a more excited quality, causing a number of the White Fang members around him to move further away from him as his muscles bristled under his clothes and his mana began to slightly 'leak out,' all but suffocating them slowly. Indeed, despite him being a Faunus much like them, it would seem that he was too unnatural a person for them to truly be calm around.

However, Heracles was snapped from his thoughts when perhaps the most unlikely person approached him. "We're about to touch down and do this shindig… and all you can do is just sit around?" Roman all but barked to the much larger man as he entered the room. He gave his cane a little twirl. "I don't know just how you do your work… but I hope you live up to the hype."

Roman's tone was clipped, his sentences rather brief. It's been an absolute pain having to plan this all out. While he did indeed accept this job in the first place, it still did little to relieve him and less so when Heracles had shown up to join this little crew earlier today. Though he'd never quite say it aloud though, the lion Faunus did unnerve him a fair bit.

Heracles slowly looked to the shorter man, unperturbed by his harsh words. "Oh trust me. You made the right choice in having me here." Heracles simply smiled as he stood up to his full height, towering over everyone else there.

"Yeah well, don't expect me to start singing your praises just yet," Roman retorted. "Cinder has been constantly yanking my chain and working with animals like you all really isn't making me feel that much better either. And 'Holy Knight' or not, you better not screw this up."

Some of the White Fang members growled at Roman's insult towards them. They were working with him solely because it was a mutual partnership of sorts. That didn't mean they didn't think of doing away with him, especially when he was being less than tolerable.

Heracles however was unaffected by his words. "Oh I'm sure by tonight's end, you'll be eating those words, little man," he replied almost jovially. Then as if to mock Roman, he patted the criminal on the head.

Roman's eyebrows twitched furiously, especially when he heard a few dark chuckles from some of the members around him. He then shook himself loose of Heracles' relaxed grip and backed away. "We're here, kiddies. Show time."

And with that, the Bullhead had finally reached the port.

From atop a nearby building, Blake watched as the Bullhead slowed before lowering towards the ground. It didn't lower all the way, however; there simply wasn't enough space for the ship to land safely at its current location. It did lower enough though for a number of White Fang members to jump out of the ship.

"The White Fang?!" Blake thought in great shock. She knew that they wouldn't simply change their ways from when she had still been a member, but to see them here in Vale of all places wasn't something she had been expecting.

However, her shock only grew when she saw Roman Torchwick of all people come walking out of the Bullhead once it maneuvered a bit so that it actually could land on the ground. "Alright, get a move on, you little mutts! We don't have all night!"

At his demand, the cat Faunus bristled, her cat ears twitching under the bow she wore. She really couldn't stand guys like him. And given the exact circumstances, she figured she might try to do something about Torchwick…

Meanwhile at Beacon Academy, Naruto was currently resting in his room for a while. Dressed in his casual clothes, he sat across from his wife at the small table that the room came provided with for them to eat their meals. "Wonder if Ryuichi is enjoying his little 'errand…'" he commented listlessly as he looked out of the window nearby.

Miki shrugged. "I doubt it. I mean, after all he is following Ms. Belladonna around…" She trailed off, having made her point.

With a sigh, Naruto nodded. "Yeah, good point. It doesn't really sit well with any of us that we have to keep such a watchful eye over students like her, her past with the White Fang aside." Indeed, it felt so wrong to watch Blake so carefully. It was as if she was a criminal herself. "Still… what do you think, Hanako?" he then asked of his magical weapon, now looking to said person lying on her bed.

To someone who doesn't know Hanako well, it'd look as if she was asleep due to her closed eyes and paced breathing. However, both Naruto and Miki knew quite well that she was still wide awake. "I think the same way you do, Master, Miki-chan." She opened her eyes and now sat up, a slight grimace on her face. "But it can't be denied that it is the most pragmatic and logical decision to watch over her so closely. After all, there is no telling when her past with the White Fang will catch up with her."

Slowly, Naruto nodded. With another sigh, he leaned back in his chair. "Yeah… damn, even after so many years being alive, things like this still give me bad and uncomforting vibes."

"But we can't let it get to us though…" Miki said softly. "After all, not only is that pretty much what we have to deal with naturally, we did promise Katsumi…" At the mention of Katsumi's name, she trailed off, a slight wince on her face.

Naruto and Hanako as well also sported a brief look of pain.

For Katsumi, a woman who had once been a good friend of Naruto's grandparents Tatsuya and Kiyomi, was now dead.

The long lived magus had finally passed away from old age just a little less than a century ago at the tender age of 994, thereby proving to Naruto and his wife and friends just how long a magus can truly live for, though even now they were unsure if Katsumi had simply been some kind of slight exception to the norm.

Despite her passing, it had been one of general peace, with the older magus who had only barely looked 30 at the time having died with a content smile on her face. Before that, she had had Naruto, Miki, Hanako, Ryuichi, and Mari ultimately promise her to still continue living on with smiles on their faces and determination in their hearts to continue doing what they can to help the world. It was a promise they made without hesitation.

Still didn't change the fact that her death had hurt them quite a bit. They had known her for a very long time after all.

And she hadn't been the only one from the time of Ragnarok to have died either; decades before her passing, Tomoko and Nobuo had also died as well. The former, having been a rather sickly girl prior to awakening as a magus, had a considerably shorter lifespan than the average magus and had passed away peacefully in her sleep. The no longer little girl had left in her passing a well doing company meant to help Faunus find good paying jobs in society and it was a company that still did well to this very day. As for Nobuo, the man had always been at Tomoko's side, watching over her in a near silent and ever caring vigil. Once she had passed away, he calmly took to visiting her grave for extended periods of time, going without food nor drink the whole time. Tomoko and her family had been the world to him and when she had passed away, he had lost virtually all connection to the world at large and so he died as well little more than a month after Tomoko's funeral.

He was now buried alongside the woman he once called ojou-sama, now resting in peace in the next life with her.

Giving himself a light slap or two to the face, Naruto then shook his head. "Come on now…" he began, smiling a little. "We shouldn't let our moods get so down; they wouldn't want us to be this way." He said it as a matter of fact. Just as they all had promised Katsumi to continue living on, they too had made vows with the other two deceased magi that they'd continue on as well in their stead. Ryuichi in particular took this most seriously, occasionally dropping in on Tomoko's company to see how things were going for it.

At his words, Miki and Hanako perked up slightly. "…Yeah, you're right, Naruto." Miki said, slowly smiling again. She pumped her left fist as if she was getting excited over some kind of challenge. "We still have plenty left to do during our own lifespans. We have to make it count."

"Nn!" Hanako made a sound of agreement, enthusiastically nodding her head.

"And while it does still bother us that we have to do this sort of thing… I'm sure it won't amount to anything much, right? Ryuichi watching over the girl, right?" Naruto then said, bringing the topic back to that with a considerably more optimistic outlook than just a few moments ago.

"Mhm!" Hanako agreed. "After all, with Ryuichi watching her over, just what could go wrong?"

Back at the port, things were going very wrong for the young huntress in training.

Blake silently swore as she used Gambol Shroud to quickly bat aside several of the White Fang members before making a mad dash for cover, a hail of gunfire erupting in her general direction as more members aboard the Bullhead fired from afar.

"Damn it…" she thought as she leapt into the air and over a large shipping container, swatting aside a number of bullets with her blades.

Hardly a few minutes ago, she had sprung into action, using Roman's and the White Fang's almost lax attitude to her advantage by getting behind Roman and virtually taking him hostage. From there she had tried to talk her former comrades down and for a moment it had almost worked until Roman had pulled a fast one on her, slipping out her grasp with an infuriating ease and commanding the White Fang under his command to attack.

And it was from then on that she had virtually been on the run around this port. She had managed to take down a few with relative ease – they were, to put it bluntly, grunt after all – but they had the advantage in numbers and they seemed to recognize her well enough to know how she fights, for a number of her attacks had actually been avoided without too much trouble on their parts.

"Well don't just stand around and shoot!" Roman then yelled in annoyance as some of the White Fang members continued to shoot for a few seconds at the container. "Circle around and get her! Except for you four! Get back to work and get those containers on board!"

As much as they disliked the criminal, the White Fang obeyed without hesitation. In one perfect motion, several members made a run for it around the container while a few others continued to fire at it, hoping to distract Blake.

It didn't.

Thanks to her cat ears, she had excellent hearing and managed to hear Roman's words over the deafening gunfire. In response, she drew her swords from their sheathes and slid them back, turning them into their gun forms. Aiming at both corners of the containers, she waited for little more than second before the White Fang began to appear.

Immediately, she pulled the triggers and unleashed a brief burst of gunfire. The members jumped back, ducking for cover. But shooting them hadn't been her aim; she had simply shot at the ground before them. Using their instinctive cover-dive to her advantage, Blake then rushed the nearest members.

One of them squawked in surprise yet still had it in him to throw a punch at her. But the instant it hit Blake, the cat Faunus seemed to suddenly fade.

It had been nothing more than clone, a result of her semblance.

The real Blake had swiftly ducked under the Faunus' arm and swung upwards with the back of her blade, knocking him back enough to stagger the others behind him and allowing her just enough time to get away.

Running past them, she twirled on the spot and pivoted, gracefully avoiding the seemingly everlasting hail of gunfire from the other members there. Returning some fire of her own, she took note of some other members busting open a shipping container and carrying back to the Bullhead smaller containers that had been inside of it. No doubt, these smaller containers were filled to the brim with Dust.

Her eyes narrowed. She didn't know what exactly Roman had planned, but letting him get away with all of this Dust couldn't be allowed.

Faster than the White Fang could react, she put on a burst of speed, now heading straight for the ones that were trying to head for the Bullhead. Using a clone to distract temporarily the ones still shooting at her, she attached Gambol Shroud to her ribbons and swung them towards the members carrying the Dust containers.

But before they could meet their mark, Blake could only watch as the blades were deflect back at her by Roman, who swatted them aside with his cane, Melodic Cudgel. He 'tsked' almost playfully. "Have to hand it to you, kitty-cat. I hadn't been expecting company tonight and especially not one so annoying." He twirled his cane while using his free hand to motion for the White Fang members behind him to continue loading the Dust onto their ship. "Now how about you do me a little favor and buzz off?"

"In your dreams, maybe," Blake retorted, readying Gambol Shroud. She took note of the other White Fang members drawing closer for a much better shot at her.

"Well that's a real shame…" Roman muttered with a slight grin.

Then the White Fang opened fire on Blake.

She had long since seen that coming and used yet another clone to take the hits for her, lunging at Roman in anger. Immediately going on the offensive, she swung her blades virtually all over the place, zipping around the older man with her clearly superior speed.

But while he couldn't match her in speed, Roman's reflexes were still great enough to keep up with her wild assault. With a look of wry amusement on his face, Roman masterfully blocked and dodged every single hit with Melodic Cudgel, his cane more than durable enough to withstand the frightening cutting force of Blake's blades.

Seething, Blake made a clone just as Roman tried to punch her. He ended up striking the clone instead just as the real Blake crouched low before leaping, hoping to nail him in the head with a solid blow. All she succeeded in doing was leaving herself open to attack as he dodged her counter.

With a laugh, Roman went for the opening, twirling his cane around with a practiced ease. Blake was hardly able to react at all as he suddenly began to land one hit after another to her arms and midsection. Though the hits were not too damaging – he was merely playing with her – the sheer number of blows plus where they were striking her quickly began to take a toll upon her.

Finally, Roman side stepped the staggering Blake and used his cane to knock her off her feet. "Gah!" She fell to the ground hard and could now only look up at Roman, who now pointed the end of his cane at her. Her eyes went wide when she saw the cane now sport a trigger for the man to pull. It seemed to her that much like all of the other students at Beacon, Roman utilized a weapon that also had gun-like features.

"Oh well, guess this is just what happens when a cat gets curiou-ow!" Roman began to taunt before he was abruptly stopped, his cane suddenly knocked out of his hand. Holding his hand in pain, he backed away from Blake and looked to his left, which is where the sudden attack had come from. "Who just-?!"

"Me."

He hardly had a chance to react to the person now _right behind_ him. Before he even realized it, the person struck him hard in the back with a fierce, throwing him into the air towards the Bullhead with great speed.

Blake could only watch in slight awe. Her savior had literally been too fast for her to even see. But now with Torchwick having been dealt such a hit, she finally noticed why the White Fang had stopped firing upon her a while ago. Originally, she had assumed it was because they hadn't wanted to risk hitting Roman by mistake. Only now did she see that sometime after she had engaged Roman in battle, they had been knocked out cold.

Looking to her savior who now approached her, the cat Faunus' eyes widened greatly. "M-Mr. Sumeragi?!" she nearly exclaimed in absolute shock.

Standing before her was none other than one of Beacon Academy's cooks. She found herself looking him over and taking in his more casual clothes along with his demeanor. He appeared to hold himself as some kind of powerful warrior – she could tell just by his posture – and it certainly showed. Just by being in front of him, she felt diminished.

However, Ryuichi wasn't looking to her. Instead, he was focused on Roman and the Bullhead. He broke his gaze just long enough for him to silently help Blake to her feet, a small apologetic smile on his face. "I'm sure you've a lot of questions, Ms. Belladonna. But they're going to have to wait for now…" He looked back to the Bullhead just as Roman now struggled to get back on his feet, Ryuichi's little 'love tap' having done some serious damage to him. "Because something else is about to happen."

"What…?" Blake asked slowly, her mind having a hard time wrapping itself around this very sudden change in situation. It wasn't exactly every day that one gets saved by what amounts to a school's cook.

But Ryuichi didn't answer her. He had watched the events thus far play out, sensing something amiss the whole time. It wasn't until he had stepped in to deal with the White Fang while Blake tried to fight Roman that he truly pinpointed the 'source' of his worry. And said source was located within the Bullhead. And whoever or whatever the source was had been watching him intently when he joined the 'fight' just now.

"Guh…!" Roman now got to his feet, rubbing his back with a look of pain upon his face. Stumbling a bit towards the Bullhead, he tapped its hull loudly. "You plan to join in any time soon?!" he all but roared.

The response to his question had been a booming laugh, enough to make the criminal nearly flinch away from the ship and Blake to suddenly feel on edge.

"I was merely waiting for a more opportune time to join in," Heracles then said as he made himself known, exiting the Bullhead. Touching down on the ground, he stood to his full height as he looked over in Ryuichi's and Blake's direction.

The latter of the two immediately felt every hair on her body stiffen up in what could only be called terror. The Faunus now standing a ways away from her was positively massive. But it was more than just his height and muscular build that scared her. There was just this presence about him that made her feel incredibly small, like an ant trying to stand up in the face of Deathstalker. And what made it all the worse was the fact that he hardly seemed to actually be doing it on purpose.

"And I most certainly chose the best time indeed to step in…" Heracles grinned, his muscles tensing up from excitement. "To think I'd meet one of all nights here! An ancient magus!"

Ryuichi immediately tensed up himself, subtly shifting into a fighting stance. From the very beginning, he knew that this lion Faunus wasn't an ordinary individual, not in the least. But his outfit and words now truly sincerely confirmed it for him.

"A Holy Knight…" Ryuichi muttered.

Things had suddenly taken a drastic turn this night. And he doubted it'd be for the better.

Done and done!

* * *

><p>Sorry if it seems like things moved fast this chapter, but I feel that I shouldn't try to drag things out too much. That said, just because Heracles, the 1st seat of the Holy Knights is already on the scene doesn't mean things are already peaking; I still have <em>plenty<em> of things in store for this fic. This is really only the tip of the iceberg for now.

Oh and as for Yuko and Masami, imagine the former as looking like Zero from Drakengard 3 minus the flower growing out of the eye and stuff while the latter (Masami) is pretty much the same as before, only slightly older looking.

That aside though, as always thanks for reading! Don't forget to review and as always as well, I hope you all will take care!


	8. Chapter 7

Man oh man, my finals are finally over! Now as long as I passed all of my classes (which I am most certain I did), then I just have roughly one more semester left until graduation! It's been quite a ride here in college… even if all I really did was just go to campus and take my classes. Still quite tiring. Oh well.

That said, I'm also pretty excited now that Kadenz Fermata, Fortissomo's sequel, is now out! Hopefully it will receive an English patch from someone so that I can either experience it myself or watch a playthrough of it on Youtube. Of course, either way, it'll still take some time. But I'm willing to wait.

Now on yet another note, as stated in the previous chapter's AN, this current turn of events will definitely be the branching point as far as the RWBY canon goes. Already there's been a few changes on my part (Sun and Penny being nowhere to be seen last chapter amongst other things), but expect the story to really start building up momentum now!

And as this will most likely be the last chapter prior to Christmas, I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday!

Chapter 7

Ryuichi and Heracles eyed one another, the former doing so cautiously while the latter did so with much more glee, not unlike a kid just about to play with an awesome new toy.

Behind Ryuichi stood Blake, who also watched the behemoth of a Faunus before her with wide eyes. "A… Holy Knight?" she spoke, repeating what Ryuichi had just said. "Mr. Sumeragi, just what do you…?"

"Blake," said man interrupted suddenly and tersely. It was enough to nearly make the cat Faunus jump; his tone had changed that much. The fact that he was now addressing her by her first name rather than surname also hinted at the seriousness of this situation. "When he makes his move, I want you to get away from here. As fast as you possibly can."

Shifting into a defensive stance, Ryuichi prepared himself physically and mentally for anything, not even waiting for Blake to respond.

As for Heracles, the large man turned slightly towards Roman. "Your cane. You ought to grab it now and get out of here," he spoke with little tension, as if this wasn't a situation to worry about at all.

"Gee, I'll get right on that after I make sure my back isn't broken." Roman's comeback was as snarky as it could come. And with reason: although he was now back on his feet, the blow Ryuichi had dealt him barely a moment ago was still very much wracking his body with great pain, especially his back. The criminal considered it to be in his good fortune that his shoulders blades or spine weren't broken.

As the man began to hobble forward a bit to get Melodic Cudgel, Heracles then addressed the White Fang. "As for you lot, it'd be best for you to retreat with the Dust you already have on board." The man then flashed them a confident grin. "And don't worry about your escape; I'm here to cover for you."

Those words seemed to shake Blake out of her reverie and she narrowed her eyes. "No!" She wasn't about to let Roman nor the White Fang get away!

Instinctively, she rushed forward as fast as she could past Ryuichi and towards Roman, who had just barely grabbed ahold of his cane.

But just as she was halfway towards Roman, she found herself in shock as Heracles was suddenly in front of her, his right fist drawn back. "Oho, you're a quick little one," he commented before launching his fist at her.

Fast. It was the only word Blake could think of to describe the Holy Knight's sudden speed and swinging fist. He was far too fast for not only a man of his size and build, but for anyone in general. Dodging his fist was impossible for her. And now it was going to hit her.

Or so she thought.

The instant before Heracles' massive fist could make contact with her, Blake suddenly found herself whisked away from the fist's path. Now stumbling on her own feet several meters away from the man, Blake took note of the fact that someone had just been holding onto her.

"You alright?" Ryuichi asked her, still keeping an eye on Heracles and Roman, the latter of the two now rushing towards the Bullhead. The magus grunted in annoyance as he saw the Bullhead begin to take off once Roman and the White Fang boarded it.

"Y-Yes…" Blake muttered as Ryuichi let go of her. She eyed Heracles warily, more so than before at any rate.

"Please understand that this isn't something you can interfere in now," Ryuichi chided calmly, getting a wince out of Blake. "I can understand your desire to stop Torchwick and the White Fang, but things have changed now."

"Oi, magus," Heracles called out as he now took a few heavy steps forward. "Save for the girl there, we're finally on our own here. Shall we now dance?" Heracles smirked confidently and enthusiastically. Mana slowly began to surge out of his very body, making the very air quiver violently all around them. Even the ground itself began to crack a bit from the sheer pressure of it.

Even from a distance, Blake felt like passing out as the wave of mana seemed to smack her entire body. She only managed to stay conscious through sheer force of will. "Just what is he?" she asked of Ryuichi.

"That's a question that will have to wait until later." Ryuichi once again took up a fighting stance, staring straight into Heracles' eyes. "For now… just go and find some cover."

Blake bit her lip in equal parts frustration and worry. This was a day that was proving to be far from what she had ever expected. First the White Fang show up and working for a criminal like Roman of all people and now this mysterious 'Holy Knight' and the cook from Beacon Academy were about to fight it out. And there didn't seem to be anything she could do about it.

But alas, she could understand Ryuichi's point. All of the questions rushing through her mind could wait until a much more suitable time. "Just don't die," she said to him before running off.

Although she couldn't see it, Ryuichi smirked a bit. "Guess I can't go disappointing a student then…"

Sensing the slight shift in Ryuichi, Heracles chuckled heartily. "So can we finally begin?"

"Whenever you feel like it," Ryuichi now shot back.

"Ha! Then let's start!" With surprising speed, Heracles shot forth at Ryuichi, a fist reared back for an attack. "Show me what you're made of!"

And then he swung his fist.

All across the city, everyone felt it; a massive shockwave making itself known as it rocked everything in its path. Buildings shook and glass began to shatter. The streets themselves began to crack apart. People all got knocked onto the violently shaking ground while some of them even went sailing through the air from the shockwave. Even the clouds above seemed to part into smaller ones. All of this occurred just from a shockwave.

But it was the port that had taken the most damage. What was left of it anyway. Containers were blown apart into little more than miniscule pieces just from being near or at ground zero, while the ground had been utterly destroyed. Cranes used to lift and transport containers collapsed into the sea and Blake, who had taken cover on the very outskirts of the port had been blown back more than a hundred meters. Through sheer luck, she managed to avoid serious injury, but was still rather shook up.

And it was as she stood and looked at the remains of the port that she could simply utter a few words. "Oh my God…" she said in a voice hardly above that a whisper as she bore witness to a level of destruction that had never been achieved before by anything.

And it was with wide eyes still that she took note of the two combatants who now stood _atop_ the water, as if it were solid ground.

Heracles stood where he was, his fist little more than a foot above the sea while Ryuichi stood just a few yards away from him, having avoided his blow. "You did well in avoiding that punch. Anyone else wouldn't have predicted the level of strength I possess, after all," the Holy Knight complimented, a grin upon his face.

Ryuichi looked to the city worriedly, taking note of the damage done. Thankfully, from what he could see, no one had died, though the hospitals would definitely have their hands full for a while. Turning his attention back to Heracles, he pointed towards the Faunus' feet. "So you're using mana like that too, huh…?"

Long ago, he and his wife and friends had learned how to utilize mana in a manner similar to chakra, allowing them to perform exercises such as treewalking and waterwalking with even less ease than if it had been chakra. Whereas chakra had to be carefully applied and regulated for shinobi to efficiently walk on water or up trees, for magi, mana simply had to be applied to the bottom of their feet and that was enough. It was a simple enough 'trick' to learn and master, though Ryuichi honestly hadn't been expecting a Holy Knight to be capable of it too.

That said, what truly shocked him was Heracles' strength, which was clearly at the same level as Miki of all people. And Miki was a very strong woman. If Heracles was as strong as her… "This isn't going to be easy," Ryuichi thought.

"Indeed I am," Heracles responded. As if to further compound the point, he took several steps forward atop the sea, cracking his knuckles. "It was one of the first things I and my fellow Holy Knights had to learn. All in order to better combat magi such as yourself, Ryuichi Sumeragi. Though I suppose I should call you by the codename we made for you… Thor."

"That so?" Ryuichi replied. "Then how about I show you what I can do?" He took up an attack stance.

This merely made Heracles laugh. "Then by all means, show me-!" He was cut off before he could finish and instead found himself making a choking noise as Ryuichi suddenly attacked, closing the distance between the two of them and kneeing the much larger man right in the throat.

Although not as physically strong as his longtime friend Miki or Naruto, Ryuichi's brute strength was still quite high for a magus, a result of him having been a shinobi prior to awakening as a magus. And he focused all of that strength into this one attack, which was supplemented by the momentum he had quickly built up.

And yet, Heracles still stood alive and very much conscious. Staggering back a few steps atop the sea, the Faunus' eyes seemed to just light up with glee. Even though he was still reeling from the hit, he began to raise his fist to attack…

…Only to stop when Ryuichi continued his offensive. With blinding speed that would put lightning to shame, he touched down on the sea and propelled himself around Heracles and unleashed a vicious assault of punches and kicks upon the Holy Knight's back and sides, peppering him relentlessly with blows that seemed to split the sea all around them.

Ryuichi aimed for the much larger man's kidneys and solar plexus and in general going for otherwise vital areas. It was his intention to make the man drop as soon as possible. He swung his fists with all of his might at Heracles' body, but to seemingly no avail for the man still stood.

What's more, the lion Faunus then performed a massive sweeping kick, hoping to take Ryuichi's legs off. Ryuichi saw it coming a mile away and leapt right over it, heading towards the city now. His feet briefly touching the wall of the building, he kicked right off of it and towards Heracles.

"Ha!" With a mighty swing, Ryuichi threw a punch directly at Heracles' midsection. However, to his surprise, the man now proved quick enough to block the punch with his own massive forearm, before twisting his body, causing Ryuichi to go somewhat stumbling past him atop the sea

His back now exposed to the Holy Knight, said Holy Knight brought down his elbow upon the very base of Ryuichi's neck. But Ryuichi recovered quickly and suddenly backpedaled, moving closer to Heracles. As a result, the elbow strike missed. Ignoring the sheer air pressure of the strike and the result of said air pressure, Ryuichi lashed out with both arms, gripping Heracles' massive arm and then proceeded to kick him in the legs, making him stumble.

Using the man's own body weight against him to build momentum, Ryuichi spun around several times and then threw him very far.

All of this happened in under a second. From afar, Blake was only barely able to glimpse a miniscule bit of the battle thus far. Indeed, the only part she really was Heracles sailing through the air now.

"J-Just what is…?" she began to mutter to herself, too captivated by the sight before her to even think of leaving, even if said sight was something she couldn't even keep track of. Never in a million years would she ever have imagined Ryuichi capable of such strength and speed. It was simply unreal. That applied even more so to Heracles, whose strength was the cause of all the damage around her.

But as shocked as she was, the cat Faunus was able to keep her wits about her enough to realize that these two fighters most definitely weren't hunters. No, it'd be far more accurate to say that they were most definitely not normal. On something of a whim, she recalled the 'strange phenomena' that had occurred in Atlas and had been reported in the news some time ago. "Is there some kind of connection here?" she inwardly entertained. Both that case and this case were definitely far from what could be labeled as typical, much less expected.

She was roused from her deepening thoughts when Heracles finally landed further out to sea, creating a massive splash that was both visible and audible even from this distance.

Ultimately, Blake decided that much like her questions, further thinking on this matter could wait until later. For now… for now, she had to continue keeping her eyes on this fight. No matter what.

Elsewhere in Vale, however, she wasn't the only one taking notice of all this.

"Just what in the world was that?!" Weiss, normally so proper, shouted as she dusted herself off.

"Owie…" Ruby muttered, rubbing her arm. It hurt from where she had landed on it, having been one of the many people thrown off their feet by the shockwave from just now.

"Urgh…" Yang looked little better than her two teammates, sporting a new dirty look to her. Her eyes briefly turned red in anger as she took of her now dirty hair, but managed to rein in it for the time being.

The three members of team RWBY had set out today to look for Blake. They had done so consistently ever since their teammate had first taken off. Although they had been shocked to learn she was a Faunus and apparently had ties to the White Fang at some point or another, none of this had deterred them for searching for her, if only to at least hear what she may have to say.

That being said, the last thing they had ever expected was some kind shockwave to knock them flat onto their butts.

"Just what happened?" Yang asked no one in particular as she tried to clean out her hair with her hands, but to no avail.

Suppressing a grimace, Weiss then pointed to the west. "Don't know," she said in a rather clipped voice. "But it seems like the source of… whatever hit us, came from there."

"The… port?" Ruby asked in confusion. She was trying to remember what exactly lied in that direction hence the pause. Still, it seemed like her answer miffed Weiss a bit.

"Yes…" the white haired huntress in training replied.

"Well, then what are we standing around for?" Yang said, lightly jogging ahead of her sister and Weiss. "Let's go check it out!" Then she took off in a genuine sprint, going as fast as she could.

"A-Ah! Sis! Wait up!" Ruby cried out, giving chase.

"Hey!" Weiss yelled after them. "What about Bla-! Oh, fine!" She too began to run towards the port.

And although none of them spoke it aloud, they sincerely hoped Blake wasn't caught up in this mess.

Back with Ryuichi and Heracles, the two were still doing battle further away from the destroyed port. The former was on the offensive as much as possible, attacking Heracles at every opening he saw. But the openings were far and few in between. Although the Holy Knight didn't quite look the part, it was clear from he moved to defend himself that he's had some serious combat training and was just as experienced as he was skilled.

"Ha ha ha! Now this is what I was looking for!" Heracles grinned madly as he moved with surprising flexibility and even grace as he kept on the moving, running across the water so fast he'd stay atop it even without mana.

Suddenly changing directions, he now headed directly for the lunging Ryuichi and tried to knee him. But his target lightly leapt up and over him, the ancient magus flipping a few times before trying to attack the Faunus at the back of the head with a kick.

Ryuichi lightly scowled when Heracles ducked his head forward, just narrowly avoiding his attack. Flipping around once more as to land on his feet, he immediately had to take several steps back to avoid a sudden elbow blow from Heracles, who then used the momentum of his failed attack to rush towards him.

"Come now, entertain me mo-!" Heracles stopped speaking when Ryuichi suddenly kicked some water into his eyes and open mouth, startling the man. He was further prevented from speaking when the ancient magus moved closer and kicked the inside part of his right thigh, causing him to nearly drop to his knees on the sea.

"Just what is it you guys are after?" Ryuichi now questioned as Heracles took a moment to regain himself. His voice was terse and commanding. If he had been speaking to anyone else, his voice combined with his no nonsense facial expression would've been enough to have them talking immediately.

But all it did was make Heracles flash a sedated smile. "Ah, it'd seem you don't quite share my joy. No matter…" He now stood up to his full height, looking down upon Ryuichi. "I can't exactly say I'm compelled to tell you what I know."

"Not even a little? Like why you Holy Knights are after us 'ancient magi?'" Ryuichi asked.

"Hrmm, so you've kept in contact…" Heracles pondered. He and his fellow knights had long since expected the ancient magi to get into contact with one another following Indra's battle with Daisuke. Still, that was all they had expected. They hadn't been sure just what would happen next if or when the ancient magi truly gathered.

"Did you really expect anything else after one of your comrades went after one of mine?" Ryuichi replied flatly, not dropping his guard at all as he talked. For now, he was simply waiting to see if the man before him would slip up while talking, giving away a potentially valuable bit of information. If that didn't work, then at least once the waves they've created here have subsided fully, he could go on the offensive again without having water splash into his face.

That got a little chuckle out of his opponent. "Not at all. And to be honest, I look forward to what you lot will do in response. Especially since the one of you I had fought had put up a rather disappointing fight…"

At that, Ryuichi's eyes narrowed dangerously. "One of us…? Who?" he demanded.

"Well, our codename for him was Jormungandr, but I believe his real name was Orochimaru," Heracles replied with little feeling, as if he was stating the night weather.

"…Ah!" Ryuichi then dropped his guard in shock. Although the 'ancient magi' as they were called did keep in touch with one another over the centuries, it was still done far enough apart that it'd be easy to think one of them simply forgot to call. But now it made sense why he nor anyone else had heard from Orochimaru recently at all.

This Holy Knight standing before him had killed the former sannin.

Seeing his lowered guard, Heracles wasted no time in taking advantage of it. He swung his fist in a mighty uppercut. Snapping back to his senses, Ryuichi saw it and tried to block as it was now too late for him to dodge it and parrying it was out of the question due to Heracles' sheer strength. The blow connected hard with his crossed arms. Ryuichi could literally feel his bones creak and fracture from the force of it.

He went flying upwards into the sky at an impossible speed. But he didn't fly for long; thanks to his equally powerful legs, Heracles jumped straight up after him and grabbed hold of Ryuichi's head.

"Now try to shrug off this!" The Holy Knight gloated as he shifted his position and threw Ryuichi back towards Vale.

Back at the port, Blake still remained where she was. Unable to progress anywhere near the battle field of Ryuichi and Heracles, all she could do now was to wait and hope for Ryuichi's return.

However, she was so focused on trying to see as far as she could that she didn't notice the new arrivals to the wrecked port.

"Blake, you're alright!" Ruby then cried as she was the first of the three arrivals. Her cry having gotten the cat Faunus to uncharacteristically jump from surprise and slight fright, Ruby then enveloped the older girl in a tight hug.

"There… you… are…!" Weiss muttered tiredly as she now arrived, wheezing a bit. It had been quite a distance they've had to cross and keeping up with Ruby had proven most tiresome. She made a note to improve her speed in the future.

"Glad to see you're alright," Yang said with a grin as she also showed up, watching in slight amusement as the Faunus girl tried to break free of Ruby's grasp, to little avail. "But just what happened here?!" The blond did a 180, going from cheerful to shocked and confused as she then motioned to the port before them all.

"Yes, what did happen here?" Weiss now asked, having regained her breath. She folded her arms across her chest and shot Blake a determined look. "And don't think we're not going to have a talk about your… heritage later…" she muttered too, making sure it was said loud enough for Blake to hear.

Said girl winced, but slightly nodded anyway. Indeed, this was a matter that had to be resolved one way or another. "Ruby…" She then said softly, patting the girl to make her let go of her, to which the younger girl obliged. Once she was free of Ruby's grasp, she motioned towards the destroyed port. "It's a long story, but right now, Mr. Sumeragi is fighting-."

She was interrupted by Yang, who held up a hand to stop her. "Whoa, whoa, wait there… Mr. Sumeragi?!"

"As in the cook from Beacon?!" Weiss now chipped in.

"Yeah and he's fighting someone that was working with the White Fang and Roman Torchwick…" Blake trailed off, her eyes narrowing as a grimace appeared on her face. The White Fang. Her old group. She vowed to look into this as soon as possible, especially since they're working with Torchwick of all people. God, how she hated that bastard. Though this had been the first time ever meeting him, his personality had more than rubbed her the wrong way, his criminal record aside.

"T-Torchick too?!" Ruby squeaked. "Wh-?!"

She didn't get to ask her question.

For right as she had been about to speak, something relatively small ended up sailing right over their heads. It flew at such speed, it almost literally lifted the members of team RWBY right off their feet. Said flying object continued onwards without slowing, smashing through more than a dozen buildings in the city before them all.

"W-What was that?!" Ruby now exclaimed as she regained her balance.

"That almost looked like a person…" Weiss was just as shocked as her team's leader. But it was Blake's reaction that then surprised her and the others more.

"That was… Mr. Sumeragi!" Blake then said.

"Oh? You actually saw that it was him? Good eyesight, girl…"

A large shadow fell over team RWBY and they immediately turned around to see Heracles all but literally standing right over them. Having gave chase just now after Ryuichi, he had spotted the four girls at the port and had decided to stop to see just what they were doing, snooping around the area.

"You…!" Blake growled out. She knew it was pointless to do so, but she couldn't help it. If this behemoth of a man could move so quickly, running away now wasn't going to do much of anything. So instead, she pulled out Gambol Shroud.

Her teammates, although taken aback greatly by Heracles' sudden appearance, proceeded to pull out their weapons as well.

"Hmm, you four certainly have spirit," Heracles commented. "But alas, you're not my targets. Now just stand aside so that-." He had begun to already walk towards the team, intent on lightly swatting them to the side so that he could continue onwards to where Ryuichi had crashed. He had expected the ancient magus' impromptu flight to have left him disoriented for a while. But if the sudden punch to his solar plexus was anything to go by, that was hardly the case. "Gah!"

"Mr. Sumeragi!" Ruby cried out as the man in question now stood in front of her and her sister, his fist having buried itself into Heracles' body just now.

The members of team RWBY watched in amazement as the devastating punch knocked the Holy Knight back several meters instantly, blood now beginning to dribble out of the man's mouth.

"Guah… heh…" Despite the pain, the lion Faunus grinned. "Truly, you are a wonderful opponent… and to think you've yet to use your magical weapon!"

"Magical weapon?" These two words shot through the minds of team RWBY as they watched.

As for Ryuichi, despite being covered in water and dirt, he appeared seemingly unfazed. "I suppose I ought to say the same to you, what with your comrade having a magical weapon too… though considering how 'artificial' your mana feels… maybe the term 'magical weapon' can't quite apply."

Heracles chuckled. "You make a good point. Indeed, we Holy Knights certainly don't have 'magical weapons' as they're called by you magi… but that doesn't mean that our weapons are inferior to yours." He cracked his knuckles and his mana began to violently flare. "In fact, now that our little warm up is done, how about we really get serious!"

He started to charge towards Ryuichi, the man's fists raised apart. A faint glow began to encompass his fists. Ryuichi knew right then and there the man was preparing to summon his weapon.

However.

"I think I'll pass on that," Ryuichi responded flatly to the charging man. "How about I just wait for my wife to give me a helping hand instead?"

"Wha-?" Heracles didn't finish. From seemingly out of nowhere, two red beams shot out and struck the Holy Knight in his knees with incredible power. In immediate response, the knees buckled and as he was charging, Heracles ended up stumbling almost comically at full speed instead.

Ryuichi was already moving by the time Heracles started to stumble. Getting too close to the man for him to properly try and attack him, Ryuichi took hold of Heracles' arm and proceeded to spin in place before leaping and throwing the man high into the sky.

Just as Heracles reached the very peak of the throw – which happened to be so high that even to Ryuichi's eyes, he was little more than a speck in sight – a more massive red beam made itself known and struck Heracles square in the back. Rather than explode like the first two did, it instead acted as something of a rocket or a drill, digging deep into the skin while blasting him off into the very far distance.

From very far away, Mari watched as Heracles disappeared even from her sight. "Hope you have a nice landing in the next continent," she quipped to herself.

Dressed in her casual clothes, she looked to what she held in her hands: a bow. More specifically, her magical weapon, Ichaival. Being a bow, it was naturally meant for long range combat. But it did more than simply fire random arrows. No, instead the arrows Mari utilized were formed directly from her own mana and in regards to this, she was capable of creating different 'types' of arrows. For example, the red ones she had fired just now could either have an exploding effect or a drilling effect or even both if she had really desired it.

But what really made the bow deadly was its more 'passive' ability, with her arrows being capable of tracking her targets. Once launched and within twenty meters of the target, it didn't matter if her aim was off or not; the arrow launched would follow the target until it hit.

Furthermore, this magical weapon only further played to her main 'strength': having always had incredibly good eyesight even before awakening as a magus so many centuries ago, her eyesight now was even better than Naruto's. On average, it was possible for magi to be capable of seeing or hearing or even smelling up to nearly a kilometer away. For magi of Ryuichi's or Miki's level, that range jumped up to roughly a kilometer and a half, though they'd have to focus in order to do so. And in Naruto's case, that range jumped up to nearly _four_ kilometers for those three senses. But whereas her sense of hearing and smell was roughly at the same level as her husband's, Mari's eyesight was so great, she could see in perfect detail objects as small as cup from a little more than _eleven _kilometers away.

And so it was from her current spot, just north of the city's borders that she had safely sniped Heracles. It certainly was a good thing she had gone along with her husband's idea of keeping track of the rest of team RWBY while he had tailed Blake at first. And when the battle between him and Heracles broke out, she simply bade her time until she could truly ensure the most damage to Heracles' person.

That said, something felt off to her. "My arrow wasn't piercing his skin…" she thought in worry. She had kept a careful eye on Heracles as he had sailed off into the distance and she couldn't even remotely see the slightest drop of blood. Although her attacks had definitely done him some harm, his body remained in perfect condition.

Which raised the question of just how tough these Holy Knights could be. "Boy oh boy…" she muttered as she dismissed her magical weapon.

Watching silently as her husband tried to talk team RWBY into heading back to Beacon with him before answering their questions, Mari could only worry over what would happen next.

Because if the other Holy Knights were anything like this one… then they may very well be in a whole lot of trouble.

* * *

><p>And I'm finally done! Hope I managed to live up to expectations for this chapter. It was my intention to keep the fight relatively short, yet exciting.<p>

That said, I hope it will also serve a sign to you all for things to come. The intensity of the battles will only continue to ramp up overtime and it's also my intention to pretty much outdo the final battle of the God Slaying Wolf in intensity and length. So I hope to deliver on that front, though not for some time; things are still very much only at the 'opening' phase of it all.

Alas, the next chapter may not be out until Christmas or after it.

So as always, thanks for reading and I do hope you all have a wonderful holiday and New Year!


	9. Chapter 8

Hey there, everyone! Hope you all had a great Christmas.

Now that said, I know I did and not just because of my time with family and friends; I seriously thank you all from the bottom of my heart for all of the favorites and follows this story has received thus far. Already, it outstrips pretty much all of my other fics and to think it's only 8 actual chapters in as of now! Seriously, I cannot thank you guys enough for that.

Now to the guest reviewer from the previous chapter: well to be blunt, this is a sequel to a previous fic after all, one that already focuses on non-Naruto elements, so it's to be expected that this fic in turn will have little in the way of shinobi elements, so to speak. Sorry if this somehow comes off as sounding condescending, because I really don't intend to sound that way, but that's how it is. Whatever you do from now on – reading this fic or dropping it – is up to you and I'll respect that decision no matter what.

That aside though, from here on out things really will be changing from the RWBY timeline and you can expect to start actually seeing the RWBY characters start getting into the limelight more often once I further build a few things in this fic. So to that end, please be patient with me.

Now onto the chapter!

Chapter 8

Ryuichi sighed, taking a moment to massage his temple. "This wasn't quite what I had wanted to happen…" he muttered.

From beside him, his wife Mari gently patted him on the back of his shoulder. "But it's how things have to go right? After all, they did see and hear quite a bit."

"Yeah…" Ryuichi conceded without much of a fight.

"Besides, it's more important that you two and the students are alright," Naruto said, sitting from across the table that Ryuichi and Mari sat at. To his sides sat Miki and Hanako, who nodded in agreement.

"But I never would've thought another Holy Knight would make an appearance this soon after the first one…" Miki then said. It seemed way too soon for the Holy Knights to seemingly start mobilizing, or at least it felt that way to her. And it worried her greatly because if they were already on the move this quickly and one of them was able to go up against Ryuichi of all people…

"U-Uhmmm…" She and the others were broken from their thoughts when they looked to the other people in the room. Standing towards the wall of the spacious office they all were in, teams RWBY and JNPR stood there looking very much uncomfortable. Even the normally lively Nora of the latter team seemed to hold her tongue. The one who had just spoke though was none other than Ruby, the youngest of the group nervously raising her hand to get their attention. "So just why are we here, professor Namikaze?" she squeaked out.

No longer in his little 'disguise' for today's main event, Naruto's more casual appearance really threw both teams there off, especially since he wasn't quite suppressing his mana, thereby unintentionally making both teams feel like they're being slowly crushed under a mountain just from the sheer pressure of his 'presence.' That being said, it seemed that not even this overwhelming presence of his stopped Yang from looking appreciatively over his clearly not scrawny form, eyeing his slim yet muscled physique not so subtly.

"Because after what had happened at the port, there's no way you four are just going to leave this matter alone," Naruto calmly answered. He and his wife and friends have read the files Beacon had on team RWBY thus far and knew for a fact how they were like. Once something caught their eyes, the girls weren't exactly going to just let it go, no matter how much it might be in their best interest not to pursue it.

"Then, uh…" Jaune now began, getting his attention. Unlike Ruby, who sounded nervous because of Naruto's sudden focus on her, he sounded a bit 'out of it' because he was trying not to eye Miki too much. She's always been considered by the student body to be a very attractive woman, but seeing her in her usual 'out of work' dress made her look stunning, what with the way it hugged her slender yet clearly muscular body. "Why are we here then?"

"Because." Naruto's voice took on a flatter quality. "They would've told you what was going on anyway once this meeting is over." He pointed to team RWBY, all of whom had the decency to look sheepish. He was right after all. Although it's only been a few weeks since the semester started, teams RWBY and JNPR already had a strong bond of friendship between them, enough for Blake to have given her teammates permission just the other day to tell team JNPR that she was a Faunus. If they were such good friends that such a personal detail could be exchanged between them, then Naruto and the others highly doubted team RWBY would keep this meeting a secret.

"But don't worry," Hanako now spoke, as cheerful as always. "This isn't going to be something to be nervous about."

"Oh I highly doubt that."

The doors to the room suddenly opened and in walked in both Ozpin and Glynda, the latter of the two looking less than pleased. That she had just spoken wasn't needed for the teams to understand that she wasn't happy at all. "If it were up to me, I'd ensure all of you would never step foot in this office under such… circumstances."

Both teams flinched at her words. But there was still some form of protest. "But… it was unavoidable that we'd get caught up in the situation," Blake, ever the rational one of team RWBY most of the times, spoke. "After all, it's not as if the fight was one we could simply avoid."

And she had a point there. With the abilities both Ryuichi and Heracles had demonstrated, there was absolutely no way anyone would've been able to stay out of it. Blake was certain, having seen them actually fight, that if the fight had gone on the city would've been reduced to rubble in no time.

"That still doesn't make it right for students to get involved," Glynda retorted without hesitation. She personally has never engaged in any battles against a magus, but like Ozpin, she's been witness to some battles between magi and right away she knew that no one hunter or huntress would be a much for one, much less the students of Beacon. Although her expression and voice radiated nothing but annoyance, she genuinely was concerned for both teams' safety if they really are going to get involved in this.

"Glynda…" Ozpin said, his calmness a stark contrast with her current mood. He said nothing further. Not a single word. His expression didn't even change. But immediately, everyone could see the headmaster's right-hand assistant almost literally 'deflate,' her temper soothed for now. And it was with this sight, that the headmaster spoke once more. "While I do understand where she is coming from," he began, pausing to take a sip from his seemingly ever present cup of coffee. "I can also understand why you all will need to be here for this meeting too. So as long as you don't cause a ruckus… you can stay and, if need be, help out in the future."

That seemed to make both teams look up at him in surprise. "Really?" Yang spoke, doing so on behalf of pretty much everyone. She put her hands on her hips. "I'd have thought you'd be a bit more… opposed to this, professor. Not that any of us are gonna complain."

"Well, it's certainly better than denying you of this and risk having you all sneaking behind our backs to do something," Ozpin said bluntly, taking another sip of his coffee. He allowed himself a smile when they winced at his words. Then he turned to the magi in the room. "So just when will this meeting be starting?" he asked them.

"Well, Yuko and the others are apparently already on the way here; they're catching a ride here," Miki said. "As for Masami, apparently she's taking her own personal transport here, but it's lagging just a bit."

Ozpin nodded. "I see. Then if it's alright, I think I and Glynda will be staying for this meeting too." Strictly speaking, this was a meeting meant solely for the magi. Teams RWBY and JNPR were the exceptions because of team RWBY's unintentional involvement and team JNPR's friendship with said team.

"By all means…" Mari said with a casual smile. "Just pull up a chair or something. Though we're still going to have to wait a while for everyone to arrive."

Ozpin simply chuckled. "Waiting is hardly a chore in this situation."

And it was with those words that he and Glynda took a seat at the table. Glynda even used her semblance to conjure up some chairs for the teams to use too. No point in having the students stand around after all.

Now it was simply a matter of waiting for the ball to finally start rolling.

Elsewhere, on a private Bullhead heading for Beacon Academy, Takehiko was sitting peacefully in the back of said Bullhead. He wasn't alone though; also seated were Katsu, Daisuke, and Yuko, the woman having called up Takehiko to give her a ride, to which he had obliged without too much of a hassle.

"We're almost there, sir," said the pilot over the intercom.

"Good," Takehiko replied, having his own intercom to speak with said pilot. Switching it off, he turned slightly to Daisuke, who had fallen asleep earlier. "Wake up, we'll be landing soon."

A little disgruntled, Daisuke slowly woke up. "Already…?"

Ignoring him now, Takehiko took this moment to address Katsu and Yuko. "I'm surprised you were able to find the time to come to this meeting. Don't you have certain duties to attend to, Katsu? And you as well, Yuko. You're a teacher, after all…"

"Finding others to split my duties with is easy enough to do," Katsu replied first. "And it's not as if I am all that busy to begin with."

"Then why are you still dressed in your uniform?" Takehiko asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Because it's quite comfortable despite its appearance. And one never knows when one will be attacked." The big man then cocked his head to the side. "If anything, I should be asking you that; you're still wearing those designer clothes of yours."

"Well you certainly have me there," Takehiko replied in good humor. "And you?" He now addressed Yuko.

Said woman simply shrugged. "There's plenty of other good teachers there to cover for me. And besides, the headmaster said that despite me being 'new' to the school, I've been working quite hard and have earned some time off," she explained.

"I see. Rather ironic in a way since you did create that school," Takehiko spoke as he reclined his seat a bit. "That said… just what do you think of these Holy Knights?" His question was directed to all of his fellow passengers rather than just one of them.

"Honestly, I think I'll withhold my opinion until we actually start the meeting," Yuko said.

"I agree," Katsu chipped in, nodding. "As it is, we have very little information on them, so any opinions we have of them is already bound to be vague as it is. For now, we should just get to the meeting and simply plan out our collective move from there."

"Mhm…" Daisuke, now awake, stifled a yawn. "Yeah, that's right Take-yan. No real point in asking us that now of all times."

"Hmmm…" Takehiko pondered their words and quickly found no real reason to try and press the point. And to be fair, even he had only asked them half-heartedly. "Very well then. Until the meeting."

With those words spoken, the others made slight noises of agreement. As it was, they were already near Beacon Academy. Waiting another ten minutes or so to discuss the Holy Knights wasn't something to fret over much.

They just simply hope that this whole situation will ultimately pass by in relative haste.

Elsewhere, Heracles was sighing slightly.

"It's unlike you to be so… down," Indra spoke, taking note of Heracles' somewhat somber mood. "Surely, you're not that upset over such an attack?"

"Hardly," Heracles muttered as he conversed with his fellow Holy Knight back at their base. Sitting in what could possibly be called their little 'break' room, he was leaning back in his specially made chair. Even then, his massive frame caused it to bend slightly. "If anything, I'm quite impressed by how Thor had gotten me so focused on him that I was unable to account for a possible surprise attack. Especially when his wife's attack had proven most painful."

At that, Indra shrugged almost helplessly. "A valid point, though it's not as if it pierced your skin. But that aside, just what is the matter then?"

"Ha ha, nothing to worry over. I'm simply a little saddened our fight had to end so soon. Though our exchange was very brief, Thor proved to be much more powerful and dangerous than Jormungandr and that's without even summoning his magical weapon too. So I had been very much looking forward to forcing him to use Mjolnir," Heracles explained. "And that's certainly true; the arrow hardly pierced my skin." As if to prove this, he stood up and turned his back to Indra, lifting up the back of his shirt to show where Mari had shot him. Upon his heavily muscled back, there was not so much as a single blemish or scratch, showing the younger Holy Knight just how little of an effect Mari's arrow had had on him.

This only spoke volumes as to his sheer resiliency. Even when the arrow really had sent him flying at lightning speed to the next continent over, not even that crash had left any real visible damage on him. Although it had taken him a while to figure out where he was at, it had ultimately been child's play for the lion Faunus to make his way back to base and with his head held high; after all, he had completed his goal of stalling long enough for Roman and the White Fang to get away. As a result, Cinder and by extension her master had gotten their hands on a substantial amount of Dust.

Still, being a fighter at heart, this 'success' did little to lift his mood. "My only real solace is that right now the ancient magi will likely be meeting to figure out how to combat us."

"Mhm." Indra nodded in agreement. It certainly seemed like the most likely course of action to be undertaken. "To think they were so powerful too… and the truly mind boggling thought is that it's Fenrir who is the most powerful of them all."

Those last few words did seem to somewhat bolster Heracles' spirit, evident by his now growing grin. "True. The 'ultimate magus' as he is called… according to the captain, not even the other ancient magi can compare to him…" Now that thought did get his blood boiling in excitement. If Thor and his wife, Sif, could prove such a challenge already, then he was truly eager to see for himself the sort of power Fenrir can display.

But there was more to wanting to fight Fenrir than simply his own battlelust; it was Fenrir that he and the second seat were partially designed to fight anyway.

Indra chuckled. "Honestly, I find it hard to believe. Don't get me wrong, I believe the captain when he says it, but even then… the thought of such a powerful being existing is simply insane."

"Ha, perhaps. But I certainly wouldn't complain." Heracles then paused as he sat back down. Then when he spoke again, he changed the subject. "Hmm, come to think of it too, just where are the others at? Hard at work taking care of other things, I presume?"

"It would appear so. Lugh though, is currently training with his weapon, Areadbhar, I believe it's called," Indra replied after thinking for a moment. "The last I checked in with him, his skill has been growing in leaps and bounds, so he's well underway to being prepared for fighting an ancient magus. To be expected of our fifth seat though."

"Mhm, and what of the others?" Heracles then asked.

However, before Indra could respond, the room was suddenly filled with dry laughter. "If you're so intrigued as to what we're doing, how about you get up and find us yourself?" said a raspy voice as a new person entered the room.

Said arrival was a man, a tall one at that. Dressed in the same uniform as his fellow Holy Knights, he looked quite thin, even sickly due to how pale his skin was, though people would be wrong in thinking this; though he was indeed thin, he possessed a well trained frame, born from many years of training and battle. With white hair that was swept back into a shoulder length ponytail, the clearly older man eyed Heracles and Indra with his piercing blue eyes.

"Didn't think you'd be back already though. Weren't you supposed to be gone longer?" the older man asked of Heracles.

Heracles simply laughed. "Apophis. You should know me well enough, old friend, that I never take long in anything I do."

Apophis, who is none other than the second seat among the Holy Knights, simply shook his head. Yet he smiled all the while. "I suppose so." He paused for a minute as he looked over the much larger man. "Still, I must say, something seems a little off about you… have you actually been injured?" He sounded incredulous, as if such a thing was too hard for him to fathom.

"Hardly. Nothing more than a minute scratch," Heracles replied with but a wave of the hand, dismissing his friend's question.

"Well, if you say so," Apophis said, shrugging. "So just what is this little conversation of yours about, eh? The ancient magi?"

"Mainly what their next move could be," Indra spoke. "What do you think it'd be?"

"Honestly, if I were them, I'd simply stay put for now," Apophis answered. "From their perspective, we're very much an unknown fighting force. All they do know is that we're more or less opposed to them and have the power to challenge them. But aside from those two simple facts, all they can do is speculate and try to think of ways to act on that, which is simply impossible. At any rate, all they can do is adopt a 'wait and see' approach until we finally launch our next move." Apophis' explanation was delivered immediately and with complete certainty. Having fought against many foes back in his younger days, be it humans or Faunus during criminal skirmishes or the Grimm, he's accumulated a wealth of battle experience that only honed his mind and body. Thinking tactically from the perspective of the enemy was an easy enough task for him to do and one that none of the Holy Knights had ever questioned.

So it was with his words spoken that Indra nodded. "I see! So in that respect, we certainly hold the advantage."

Apophis nodded. "Indeed. But until the captain gives the order, we are to simply keep on preparing, lest he needs us to do a little odd job here and there like Heracles had to do."

"But of course…" Indra nodded yet again. "That said, I'll make it a point to also see how Kalma is doing." He looked rather thoughtful now. "Now that I think of her, she's probably still resting in that little room of hers. I can never quite understand why she prefers such a dark and dreary room…"

At that, Heracles hummed in agreement. "Perhaps it's simply to her tastes… or perhaps it's due to her own 'little' weapon."

"True…" Indra muttered, still thinking.

Kalma. She was the sixth seat of the Holy Knights, ranking just above him in that regard. Being roughly around the same age as him if not a little younger, it was easier for him to get along with her than the other knights, though that isn't to say he's lacking in camaraderie with the other ones. That said, he was usually the one to check up on her. So it was on this note that he silently reminded himself to check on her later.

"Well then," Apophis spoke up. "How about we turn in early for the day? After all, we're going to be busy in the coming weeks, it'd seem."

"But of course…" Heracles agreed.

Indra himself nodded as well. And so it was with their agreement that the three knights got up and left the room, not seemingly worried at all about what could come next.

Back at Beacon Academy though, teams RWBY and JNPR were feeling pretty worried and with reason they would say if asked.

The other guests that team magi and Ozpin and Glynda had been waiting for had finally shown up and were now seated at the table.

However, it seemed like most of them were focused on the two teams, Takehiko, Katsu, and Masami – who had arrived just a few minutes after the others had – looking at them almost inquisitively. Well, the first two looked inquisitive; Masami simply looked amused by both team's reactions to being in the presence of so many magi.

"Just why are they here?" Takehiko asked Naruto, pointing to the teams.

He received an answer from Ryuichi instead. "It's because they accidentally got caught up in all of this." Then he took several minutes to explain the whole situation to everyone there.

Needless to say, they were all surprised, including teams RWBY and JNPR as well; they had no idea that Ryuichi had been trailing Blake for so long.

As if noticing this about them, Ryuichi turned to them with an apologetic smile on his face, though it was mainly aimed at the cat Faunus herself. "Sorry, Ms. Belladonna, but it's our duty to watch over all of Beacon's students. And although you probably weren't considering yourself one at the time, that still applies to you too."

"I… I see…" Blake lamely replied, unable to really form words. On the one hand, it felt weird to learn that she's been followed for all the days she's been wandering around Vale. On the other hand, it felt kind of nice to now know that no one in this room cared she was a Faunus and one who had once been a part of the White Fang at that too.

"If anything," Yuko then spoke, running a hand through her pale hair. "This is kind of a blessing in disguise, isn't it?"

Katsu nodded in agreement. Folding his arms across his chest, he spoke. "It could be. Since she was once a member of the White Fang, she could provide us with information as to how they really do their operations. Although the group has most likely shifted gears since she's left them, they must still follow a very similar approach to matters," he explained.

"Ah, but perhaps it would be best if we ask her first, rather than just decide on our own, yes?" Masami then spoke. "Because the way you speak of it, you make it sound like she has no choice but to tell us… and as they're her former comrades, giving away such information would certainly be hard of on her. Isn't that right, Ms. Belladonna?"

Blake and the others could only look mystified at Masami, all of them somewhat entranced by her beauty, but ultimately they were able to shake off the 'spell' and Blake was able to answer. "While it would be… kind of painful to speak of them," she began. "I just can't agree with their changed goals nor the fact they're working with that Torchwick guy… so it isn't too much of a hassle."

"A-Ah, and we'll land a hand too if you need our help!" Ruby hastily added immediately after Blake finished speaking. "I-I mean, I don't know how much good we'll be against these guys, but…"

This got a bit of a chuckle out of Daisuke, who actually opened his usually closed eyes. "Ah ha, you're a bit of a cute one, aren't you Ru-chan?" he commented.

"U-Uhm," Jaune now tried to speak as he and his teammates watched Ruby go red in the face. "We're willing to lend a hand too if it's needed… can't let our friends fight the good fight on their own he said." He really did want to help out. Though he was going through a tough time right now, what with the little improvement he's been making through his training, he really did want to help out. Inherently, he was indeed a very good and even brave person at heart, though his abilities weren't quite up to snuff as he'd often think.

Smiling, Pyrrha patted him on the shoulder. "Yes. As our leader just said, please let us help too," she spoke confidently.

From beside her, Ren nodded, a small smile on his face. As for Nora, the girl whooped, as if she was an excited kid getting ready for a really lively party.

Although their backs were turned to both teams right now, Ozpin had a small smile on his face. Glynda was shaking her head, muttering just under her breath how dangerous this could for them. And yet if one looked closely enough, she too sported a small smile.

"Hmm, I see then." Takehiko himself actually looked pretty pleased as well. "Well then, we'll be relying on you every now and then, I suppose," he said to both teams.

"That all said," Miki now spoke, immediately getting everyone's attention. "Just what do we do now about these Holy Knights? I mean, I hate to bring this up… but all we know for sure about them are that they are out to fight us and that they seem to have the power to possibly match us too."

"Well, except for Naruto-kun," Masami then said with a smile. "I highly doubt these troublemakers have anyone who could match him."

"Err, that's pretty flattering, Masami," Naruto then replied, a little sheepish. "But I'm pretty sure that sooner or later there may be someone who could put up a good fight…"

"Ne, I'm kind of doubting that, Nami-yan," Daisuke said in good humor. "I mean, you did beat Odin all those centuries ago. And that's pretty damn impressive."

"Mhm, Master sure is powerful…" Hanako said with a pout, her arms folded under her breasts. "So much so I hardly see any action anymore…" Her pout deepened.

This only drew looks of sheer confusion from the two teams while all of the magi and Ozpin and Glynda simply nodded in agreement with Hanako. "She's Naruto's magical weapon," Ryuichi then explained to the two teams.

They all let out a collective 'oh' and looked satisfied with the answer. Until. "Wait, what's a magical weapon?" Jaune asked.

"We'll have to answer that later, Jaune," Ozpin then spoke up, for the first time in the meeting. "For now, let's try and focus on the original purpose of this meeting."

"But of course…" Katsu agreed. "That said, Miki here does raise a very valid point; we know so little about these so called Holy Knights that to come up with any meaningful strategy is nearly pointless." He stifled a growl of annoyance as he spoke. After all, if there was one thing that was always vital to battle, it was information. Information or lack of it could prove a pivotal point in anything, especially when in conflict, where it could potentially save a life or end it.

"Not quite," Masami then spoke. "From what you three," she said, motioning towards Katsu, Takehiko, and Daisuke. "explained in addition to what Ryuichi said, these people clearly use an artificial form of mana and have weapons that are similar to magical weapons… yet aren't magical weapons at all. That alone can tell us plenty."

She took a deep breath and then proceeded to talk some more. "From that information, we can discern that clearly they weren't always the way they were, or rather, that they aren't magi in any capacity. In all likelihood, they required experimentation to achieve the abilities they have, making them more like pseudo magi than anything else. Therefore, while their physical abilities would seem on par with our own, they will most likely lack the naturally long lifespans and regeneration that they have."

At that, Ryuichi nodded. "Yeah, not only that, but now that Masami mentions it, something else we need to consider is just what they've been trying to do so far. That Indra guy attacked you three with the intention of essentially scoping you out, testing your abilities. The one I fight, as battle thirsty as he was, was there to serve as back up for the White Fang and Roman Torchwick. So in some way or another, these Holy Knights are connected to them."

"So much for the 'Holy' part of their titles…" Yuko muttered. It didn't take a genius to know that Roman Torchwick was bad news and that the White Fang, considering their extreme methods, were far from saints either. That these Holy Knights might be lending aid to them said a lot about them.

The other magi sat in silence, digesting all that was just said.

"Certainly there is all of that to consider," Glynda now spoke, much to the surprise of some. She ignored their looks and adjusted her glasses that were sliding down her face a bit. "But that still doesn't seem to let us form a real strategy against them."

"Perhaps," Katsu then spoke. "But listening to Masami, we could now at least form some kind of counter attack against them when they next show their faces. I understand that such a reactionary approach to this is less than pleasing, but better something than nothing."

"Meh, I'm still a little more worried about their weapons though," Daisuke now spoke, looking serious. "I mean, they may not have magical weapons like us, but whatever they're using as a substitute is powerful enough to more or less match us anyway."

"So… then would that make these weapons just as hard to destroy?" Miki now questioned. "If so, then unless they have some sort of inherent structural weakness, then there probably is no real way to counter them, right?" She hated to be the potential devil's advocate to forming some sort of counter, but it had to be said.

Beside her, her husband pondered this quite seriously. "You know, that's a very good point. A very vital one too. If these weapons of theirs do have some kind of weakness, then wouldn't it also help us to hypothesize what it could be? Granted, it'll still be speculation in the end until the next battle, but still…" Naruto shrugged helplessly as he tried to contribute to the discussion.

"Hmm, well if or when another Holy Knight appears, if I'm around I could always use Mimisbrunner on their weapons to see what I can figure out," Hanako then offered.

That right there made the magi feel better in addition to Ozpin and Glynda who were in the know on their abilities.

The two teams still standing about, however, were very much in the dark. "Ren, Ren," Nora whispered not quite quietly. "Do you know what they're saying?" she asked with child-like wonder.

"No clue…" the black haired teen honestly replied.

"But it does sound very interesting," Pyrrha then chipped in. Seriousness aside, what the magi were talking about sounded unlike anything she's ever heard of before.

"Yeah…" Jaune agreed.

While team JNPR continued to quietly talk amongst themselves in regards to the terms the magi were using, team RWBY seemed more concerned about the actual topic the magi were discussing. "Whoa nelly…" Yang began, an awkward smile on her face. "These Holy Knights must be pretty tough if they're this into the talking," she commented.

"If you had seen even a little of the battle between Mr. Sumeragi and that guy that I saw," Blake began. "You'd understand why this is such a serious matter."

Yang held up her hands as if to placate her. It wasn't exactly hard to not notice the somewhat clipped tone in which the cat Faunus spoke. "Whoa, I believe they're tough. After all, we were standing right in front of him." At the memory of that particular moment, Yang couldn't help but shiver a bit. It'd be a long time before she could forget the sheer power that seemed to radiate off of Heracles and threatened to crush her and everyone else.

"B-But do you think we'll really be able to help?" Ruby asked, now uncertain. She knew she had offered the help of her team to the magi, but hearing the magi continue to talk so seriously was somewhat beginning to make her question her own judgment call.

"Well, it's too late; you've already offered and they've already accepted," Weiss now said. "And while I do disagree with you so suddenly offering our help without our permission, we're just going to have to bite the bullet, I suppose." She folded her arms across her chest and gave the young leader of the team a poignant glare, immediately squashing whatever Ruby might've said to try and refute her point.

So it was with a lowered head and a sheepish smile that Ruby simply nodded. "Okay, good point…"

And so it was with these words spoke that the two teams continued to watch as the magi continued to talk amongst themselves well into the evening. Even as they asked for the opinions of the two teams in addition to Ozpin and Glynda, the magi seemed to not be stopping this meeting any time soon at all.

Elsewhere, Cinder watched with a triumphant smirk as the White Fang members working under Roman were hard at work loading a small dust plane with the Dust stolen from the port. It hadn't quite been as much Dust as she had expected, but it was still a substantial amount at any rate. Her master would be pleased by that.

As it is, she's already informed him of the success and was now awaiting the Dust's arrival. Soon enough his experiments with Dust will be underway again.

Of course, that said, the apprentice couldn't quite help but wonder just what was next. Having heard from Roman loudly complain about the difficulties of the operation in addition to Ryuichi's surprise appearance, Cinder had to wonder just what her master would request the Holy Knights to do next. As it is, there's no way the ancient magi are going to be idle anymore after Ryuichi had fought Heracles, but still… Cinder had to wonder now just how the ancient magi will respond. Although their options are indeed limited given the lack of information on the Holy Knights, Cinder didn't quite share the same confidence that the Holy Knights had. After all, these are the ancient magi they're talking about. Their skill, experience, and power are simply on another level compared to others. To underestimate them would be fatal.

"We've finished loading," one member of the White Fang reported.

"Good. Send it on its way then. You already know where to," Cinder replied. "Ah, and would you happen to know just where Mercury and Emerald have gone off to?"

"I believe they're still trying to tie up a few… loose ends," the White Fang member said.

"Ah, of course…" Cinder then dismissed the man so that he could go back to his duties. She inwardly sighed. So caught up she had been just now with her current thoughts that she had actually forgot that her two little right hand minions were out taking care of former White Fang members. The organization hated it when members upped and left. If she recalled correctly now, their most recent target is named Tuskon, though she could be wrong.

She then shrugged as she turned to leave for the time being. Ultimately, it mattered little to her the sort of 'loose ends' that the White Fang wanted done away with or Roman's continuing complaining. All that mattered to her now was that the stage had all but been literally set for the battle between the Holy Knights and the ancient magi. And it was all courtesy of her master.

And while she would not dare pretend she knew what exactly he was thinking of doing now, she knew one thing very well: that soon enough, the Holy Knights would stop hiding from the rest of the world and that the ancient magi will have no choice but to make a more public appearance themselves.

Although such a scenario would no doubt place her in great danger, Cinder couldn't fully suppress the smirk on her face; she was honestly looking forward to it.

* * *

><p>And that's that for now. As you can see, mainly a talking chapter to give the characters a break from the action while also bringing up a few things that will be plot relevant.<p>

Also, with this chapter, you can definitely expect the RWBY characters to start appearing more and so will Naruto, who I've had out of the limelight for some time now and with reason.

And while it will take some time, you can expect more than one revelation to be made and it's going to be a doozy at that too. The Holy Knights will be appearing more prominently now as well and you can expect some backstory for them to be revealed in due time as well in addition to their true 'goal.'

Until next time, everyone! Once again, I hope you all had a good Christmas and in turn will have a Happy New Year.


	10. Chapter 9

Let me start off this AN by first saying that I hope you all had a good start to the new year. Hard to believe 2014 is now over. I swear time just seems to pass by faster and faster with every passing year.

Well, that being said, from here on out, this fic will now be going on in its own direction with its own events now that the recent chapter has dealt with the finale of RWBY volume 1. However, it will still be some time before things truly kick into overdrive, so once again I ask you all bear with me until the sparks really begin to fly. And when they do fly, they really will fly! I have a lot in mind for this fic and I'm simply itching to get to it in a reasonable manner.

That also now said, within a few more weeks, my new semester will begin. And while 5 of my 6 classes should (theoretically) be easy/simple, it's still 6 classes here so that will eat away at my time. This is excluding the family/friend things I also do during my free time. Also as I got Guilty Gear Xrd for Christmas in addition to 3 major novels I've been itching to read, my free time to write may be reduced even more. But nonetheless, I will be trying to write when I can and I should be able to keep up the same posting pace I've been setting for myself thus far.

Oh and on a side note, I also put up a link to Kadenz Fermata's opening on my profile page. I thank Loyal Yoxall for posting the video opening! Give it a look, guys!

Now onto the chapter!

Chapter 9

Roman was not having a great week. Although it's been four days since the 'port fiasco' as he called it, his back was still killing him from the hit he took from Ryuichi.

"Damn it!" he nearly snarled out as he sat slowly in his seat at the club owned by one Hei Xiong, who preferred to be called Junior. Having come here for what he considered to be a well-deserved drink, the criminal mastermind was honestly reconsidering his journey here as all this place seemed to be accomplishing was aggravating his back pain even more. He'd really have to give Junior a piece of his mind about the furniture.

"Though I guess I won't have to worry about that anyway…" he thought, taking note of the club. There appeared to be a massive hole in the roof and although the place has been cleaned, Roman swore that he could still see some debris here and there as people went about their usual business (Junior refused to close down the club).

"Torchwick…" a gruff voice then said.

"Ah, speak of the devil," Roman said with a sarcastic smirk as the owner himself, Junior, approached him. He took a moment to look surprised as Junior's clothes sported a thin yet noticeable layer of dust that didn't seem to be coming off at all. "You know you-."

"I know," Junior growled, trying in vain to wipe off the dust. Sighing at this failure, he took a seat next to Roman at the bar. Just as Roman noticed his current state, Junior too took notice of Roman's almost twitching backside. "Just what happened to you?"

"I ought to ask you that first…" Roman made a grand sweeping motion with his right hand, his fingers pointing all around him. "What happened to this place? Your boys' stupidity struck again or something?" he asked of him, making a jab at the mobsters that Junior had at his disposal.

"Ha, I wish," Junior began. "Just a few days back, some guy came flying in through the damn roof, making all of this mess. Then before I could even react, he just got up, dusted himself off and leapt back through the hole."

At that, Roman paused after finishing ordering his drink from the bartender. "Through the roof, huh?"

"Yeah." Junior looked to him, suspicion on his face. "What? You know something about this?"

"Depends. What did the guy look like?" Roman coolly replied.

Junior quirked an eyebrow, bust answered anyway. "About your height. Well built. Black hair and eyes…"

"With a glove on his left hand?" Roman chipped in.

"Yeah." Junior now turned in his seat towards Roman, who had a grimace on his face now.

"That's him alright. He kicked me in the back during my most recent… operation," Roman then said. His grimace lifted ever so slightly when the bartender finally returned with his drink, of which he took a good sip of.

"With the White Fang, eh?" Junior then spoke. He took some pleasure in Roman's look of complete surprise. "You forget I'm an information broker, Torchwick…" He chuckled a bit. But then looked serious once again. "Though I gotta say, didn't expect you of all people to be working with the White Fang."

"It's a complicated and long story," Roman eventually said, taking another sip of his drink, savoring it. The alcohol helped distract him from the pain in his back.

"Well it's not like I'm going anywhere…" Junior began.

Roman waved him off. "Trust me, you wouldn't want to get caught up in this damn mess I'm in. It just isn't worth it."

"Then why stick around for it?" Junior asked, genuinely bewildered. "If it's that big a mess, what's stopping you from just leaving?"

At that question, Roman fell quiet as he remembered his interactions with Cinder. The woman, ever so mysterious, most likely had some way of tracking him down herself and should it come to a fight between him and her, he'd be the loser. So there was that to mainly consider.

However, what really held him back were those Holy Knights. Even when he and the White Fang had taken off with the Dust, they had still been close enough to see briefly the battle between Heracles and Ryuichi. And while said battle had been rather short, it had left him with an almost overwhelming sense of awe and terror. Just what were these Holy Knights that Cinder seemed to be affiliated with? This was the question that was now eating away at him. It was simply too mind numbingly interesting for him to ignore. Of course, there was the fact that Cinder could probably request one of these Holy Knights into tracking him down for her and disposing of him if need be, but even this potential threat hardly fazed him; it was really the desire to know what the Holy Knights were and what they had Cinder had planned that had him so worked up now.

"I… suppose you could say there's something interesting going on," Roman eventually said to Junior. "This whole thing with the White Fang may be FUBAR in my opinion… but there's more to it than what I originally thought and I'm actually curious to see just how it'll all play out."

"Mmm…" Junior merely hummed at Roman's response, trying to make sense of it. But a minute later, he simply sighed as nothing really came to mind. He simply didn't know enough to guess at what Roman could be giving away. "Well, it's your life. Just don't blame anyone else if this curiosity of yours comes back to bite you in the ass."

"I'll keep that in mind, Junior. I'll keep that in mind," Roman said before going back to his drinking.

And so it was for the rest of his visit to the club that the two of them would sit there in silence, merely contemplating what was to come next.

Meanwhile at Beacon Academy, students flitted about the place, heading from one class to the next with about as much enthusiasm as one would expect of them.

However, the exceptions to this norm were none other than teams RWBY and JNPR, who chatted with one another as they headed for their next class together.

"So just what do you think is gonna happen now?" Ruby asked, somewhat nervous. She was beginning to feel a little antsy in regards to this whole new affair going on. She knew intellectually that it wasn't as if the magi were going to immediately start going after the Holy Knights or that said Holy Knights would start attacking yet again, but the suspense was slowly getting to her now.

"Don't know. All we can do is wait it out, right?" Ren of all people answered in a calm manner. Looking idly to his team and team RWBY, it was clear that all of them were feeling some sense of tension over this whole event and he found himself very hard-pressed to blame them; after the magi had quietly debated strategy with one another, Ozpin had taken to informing them of the ancient magi's 'origins.' Needless to say, all of the information learned had blown their minds and only served to further make the teens feel on edge. After all, they would now more or less be working alongside people that have been around for centuries and had spent all of that time fighting and honing their already formidable skills. That being said, Ren felt that perhaps he was taking this whole situation with a greater sense of calmness than the others, if only because he was already in the midst of mentally preparing himself for potential conflict in the future while the others seemed content for now to talk this all over first. Not that there was a problem with that, of course.

"Well, it'd certainly beat having these… Holy Knights," Weiss began, hands on her hips. "Show up on our doorstep and start another fight right now."

"Aww… but I kinda want to see for myself how tough they are!" Nora commented, a rather excited smile on her face.

"Nora, that wouldn't quite be for the best," Ren then said to his longtime friend.

"But even though we agreed to help and all, just what can we do?" Jaune spoke up, asking the crucial question. Blake having told team JNPR just what she had seen of the clash between Heracles and Ryuichi, the blond leader wasn't sure if anyone in Beacon, much less himself and his team, could do much of anything against such a powerful foe. Especially himself as his skills were still subpar in a lot of respects. Maybe he could see if someone could privately tutor him or something…

"Eh, don't sweat it too much, guys," Yang began, a cheery smile on her face. "We'll just cross that bridge when we get to it. But what really has my interest… is why would professor Namikaze dress down for class?!"

Everyone, even the normally rambunctious Nora, gave the blond girl odd looks. "Yang… I don't really think-," Blake began to say to her partner.

"Oh come on, even you have to admit that he looked pretty hot at that meeting a few days back," Yang said, cutting the Faunus girl off. She huffed a little in confusion. "Which really just makes me wonder why he'd put on a 'disguise' when teaching class! I mean, it makes him look so much less muscular and shorter than he really is!"

"Gee, I didn't know you cared so much for my choices."

Nearly everyone jumped when someone had spoken from behind them. Turning, they all saw it was none other than Naruto himself, dressed in what the two teams now regarded as his 'professor' clothes. Holding a back with his left hand, Naruto used his right to adjust the glasses he wore to keep them from falling off. Even then, the teams could tell his focus was entirely on them.

"W-Well, it does seem kind of odd to me, ya know, professor?" Yang began sheepishly. She rubbed the back of her head now. "I mean just what does this disguise do for you?"

"Mm, not much really," Naruto admitted as he proceeded to walk past them, which in turn prompted the teams to follow him. After all, they were heading to his class right now anyway. "It's mainly meant to just play down my… intimidating appearance, I guess."

"Intimidating…?" His fellow blond asked.

With a bit of an amused smile, Naruto turned to her ever so slightly even with his hunched up shoulders causing him some slight discomfort. "Let's be honest here, I know you all could feel the mana pouring off of me at the meeting." Noticing their slight flinches, he continued. "That's simply how it is for me. I have to try really damn hard to suppress my mana as much as possible in order to not literally crush others under its 'pressure.' This 'disguise' as you call it is simply meant to help facilitate a more harmless and approachable appearance for me."

"Hmm, yes, I can see that…" Amazingly it was Weiss of all people who said this, the heiress nodding along with what he had just said. Being the daughter of the Schnee company's president, she was far from a stranger to PR duty, having to always maintain a certain appearance and demeanor around others, at least until coming here to Beacon.

And it was with this in mind that something else cropped up for her: the possibility that Naruto may have lied to her during their chat all those days ago now. She knew it was common for people, for the sake of upholding a certain image, either lied or told half-truths about certain things to continue being on people's good sides and whatnot. There were also times where things had to be embellished…

"Uhm, professor…" Weiss began unsurely, much to her teammates' and team JNPR's surprise. She wasn't known for sounding so uncertain about something. "About what we talked about that one time, was what you told me…?"

"It's true, Ms. Schnee," Naruto said without hesitation. It was by no means forceful or loud, yet his soft and quiet voice at that moment rang true straight to the core for Weiss. Slowly, he turned his gaze to her while continuing to walk. "I really did have a sister and what I said regarding her really did happen." As if to ram home this point, his eyes were open ever so slightly so that Weiss could stare directly into them.

"I see. Thank you." Weiss turned her head down towards the ground. If one looked closely, they'd be surprised to see the usually stand offish girl sporting a small smile.

A silence then fell over the large group. At least until Jaune started to speak. "But you know, professor," he began. "I still can't really wrap my head around it. To think you and the others in that room had been around for so long… I mean, you all just look so young in comparison to your actual age."

That actually got a chuckle out of Naruto. "Just one of the benefits of being a magus, I guess. Of course, such long life spans have their downsides… but as long as you continue onwards in life, it's not too bad."

"Y-Yeah…" Jaune then turned away from Naruto. "And to think I found Miki and that Masami woman to be so attractive! I'd have ended up possibly flirting with centuries old women!" He muttered this under his breath in sheer amazement. Although his eyes had originally been set on Weiss, slowly over the past week or so, his rather strong crush on her was slowly beginning to fade away, which had prompted the blond boy to start taking notice of Miki and in turn _definitely_ take notice of Masami, whose almost supernatural beauty stood out at the meeting even under such serious circumstances. But now to know that both women were more than eight centuries older than him, with Miki being married to Naruto on top of that, he quickly tried to snap himself out of crushing on them; they were way out of his league and in more than just one way now.

However, he was snapped out of his thoughts when he saw Naruto looking at him intently, a rather disturbed look on his face. Jaune then colored slightly in shame when he recalled Ozpin telling them that magi happened to have sharp senses in addition to heightened physical abilities. "Looks like he heard me…" he thought in pure embarrassment and even some horror; this man walking beside him was a powerful magus from the sounds of it, more powerful than the others and was Miki's husband. "U-Uh-." He began.

Naruto just held up a hand to him. "Yeah, no worries. None at all," he said a little quickly. Then he leaned in a bit towards Jaune. "Though I'd recommend maybe finding another girl to crush on," he said, that same disturbed expression still on his face as he whispered to Jaune.

"Is something wrong?" Pyrrha asked as she and the others watched the two blonds interacting.

"Nothing at all," both blonds said in perfect sync.

"So, uh, professor," Ruby now spoke up, getting Naruto's attention, which he very much welcomed right now. "Just what exactly is going to happen now?"

At that, Naruto sighed. "As of right now, we magi are adopting a wait and see approach. But once the Holy Knights make their next move, whatever it may be, we plan to finally act. As it is, this is mainly because we're still lacking crucial info on them." His response was crisp and concise, spoken with all the efficiency the hunters and huntresses in training would now expect of such an experienced warrior. Still, it was quite a sight to see; they were unused to seeing professor Namikaze look so serious. "Ah, and Ozpin is now finally meeting with Ironwood. Their meeting had originally been planned for a date a few weeks away, but then Ironwood had bumped up the date due to the 'strange phenomenon' over there in Atlas a while back. They were supposed to meet before the 'magi meeting' as you could call it, but… well, you know how that turned out now. That said, don't expect to be hearing from the headmaster for the rest of today. Understood?" He now paused in his walking to look at teams RWBY and JNPR.

Both teams stopped as well and quickly nodded their heads, almost dumbly so as they were taken aback by Naruto's sudden shift in demeanor, the blond magus now giving off a powerful 'authoritative' vibe.

"Good," he said as he 'reverted' back to his 'professor' demeanor. "Now we're almost to class, so be sure to pay attention too. Just because we have these Holy Knights to deal with doesn't mean you can slack off on classwork… that goes double for you, Ms. Rose."

"Eh?!" Ruby cried out comically.

"Professor, just one last thing." Now it was Blake who spoke. "Since we're sticking to a wait and see approach, just what about the other magi? Will they be staying here at Beacon?"

Naruto shook his head. "No. Yuko for sure will be staying in Vale as will Daisuke. Yuko has some time off from work and Daisuke is a bit of a wanderer so no troubles there… but Takehiko and Katsu have their own duties to attend to back in Atlas and so does Masami…"

He trailed off as he and the two teams approached the classroom. He found himself confused at how eerily quiet it was. His class, while certainly a respectful bunch, was _never_ quiet prior to lecture starting. Focusing on his hearing a bit more, the blond magus then made a 'grk' sound. For he now, through hearing alone, detected two additional people in his classroom and it didn't seem like they'd be going anywhere anytime soon.

"Professor?" Blake asked in worry, noticing his now trouble expression.

But Naruto ignored her. Walking up to the classroom door and all but throwing it open, he was greeted with the sight held within. From either side of him, teams RWBY and JNPR peered over or under his shoulders to look as well.

"Ah, Master! About time you showed up!" Hanako said exuberantly as she sat in the front row of the class, waving to him despite the stares of shock she was now garnering. "This will be my first time hearing you lecture!" Her eyes seemed to be sparkling now.

But it wasn't just her that had the class so utterly stupefied into silence. "Ah, Naruto-kun…" Masami said airily as she sat off to the very corner of the room, sitting next to a male and female student, both of whom could only stare at her, enraptured. However, whereas the female student focused more on Masami's elegant posture and dress, the male student's eyes seemed to be focused on a certain area below her neck, for she currently had both her arms folded up under them as she eyed the blond magus. "I hope you don't mind my sitting in… but currently there is no real need for me to head back to work just yet; I made sure to finish up all of that tiresome paperwork long before coming here." Masami smiled charmingly, making the whole classroom heat up a bit. "And even if not for that, I'm quite intrigued to see just how you work here…" She eyed the blond magus almost hungrily.

This in turn only made all eyes turn to Naruto, who stood at the door still, his expression frozen as he tried not to scream out in frustration.

Judging by the looks his own students were giving him, it looks like he'd have to pull damage control for his reputation yet again…

Elsewhere, the leader of the Holy Knights was, for the first time in a long time it'd seem, out of his lab. That said, he wasn't out enjoying the sunlight.

"How have things been for you, Kalma? Everything still stable?" he asked of his sixth seat.

Sitting in a dark and almost eerily creepy room, the captain took note of the surrounding room, which he hadn't been in for a while now. The room was quite large, enough to house perhaps twenty people provided they weren't of Heracles' size. The walls were plain and even dreary while there was an equally plain desk off to the corner of the room, a large bookshelf placed next to it, a number of books placed there to the point where even moving one book would send them all spilling across the floor.

Furthermore, the room was all but devoid of light save for a single dimly lit lamp atop the desk.

The captain, though, focused his attention once more upon the large bed before him. In the bed lied a relatively young girl, perhaps sixteen years of age. She appeared quite delicate for her age, being barely 5 foot 2 and sporting a very petite build that was hardly covered by the white nightgown being worn. The girl had pale skin that was further complimented by the pitch black shoulder length hair she sported. Her all but literally glowing green eyes stared directly at the captain with slight unease and perhaps even embarrassment as she rubbed her own arms, trying to stay warm in the cold room.

"Sir…" she began, her voice little more than a deathly whisper. "My apologies for the smell." She bowed her head in shame.

"Think nothing of it; it's no bother to me," the captain said gently. The room smelled like death itself, a scent of rotting, putrid flesh simply brimming in the air within. And yet, he showed no discomfort whatsoever. Whether or not his words to her were genuine was impossible for the girl to decipher. "You didn't answer my question, Kalma."

"I'm doing fine, captain," Kalma answered softly. "My body is fine and Surma is in perfect condition. I can act whenever you need me to."

The captain of the Holy Knights nodded. "That's good to hear. But you will not have to be straining yourself much just yet, so you can rest easy still."

Kalma smiled a little. "Thank you… with all due respect sir, that really puts me at ease since…" She motioned to the upper sides of her head, where she sported two ears – dog ears to be precise. Much like Heracles, she was a Faunus as well.

"Of course," the captain said in understanding. Prior to joining with the Holy Knights, Kalma when she went by her old name had been bullied brutally for her Faunus heritage. Unlike members of the White Fang, who had similar experiences and were rendered embittered by it, she was considerably more terrified of humans rather than angry at them. However, ever since becoming a Holy Knight and taking on the name of Kalma, she's come to have a few exceptions to this rule: the captain, Apophis, Ametarasu, Lugh, and Indra. But going out into the most human world was still quite a challenge for her even with her power as a Holy Knight, a fact that the captain understood well enough and was more than willing to be patient in dealing with. "But do know that sooner or later, you will have to fight on the frontlines." He said this in a firm voice, but not a harsh one. Belittling Kalma in any way whatsoever wasn't his intention.

And the girl seemed to understand this, for she smiled gently. "Yes, you can count on me when the time comes, captain." Then she frowned in slight confusion. "But is there more to this visit than just checking up on me?" she asked in interest.

"In a manner of speaking…" The captain then went on to describe to her the latest developments in his own research and how the world at large was doing. Specifically, he told her of Heracles' battle with Ryuichi and how the ancient magi would no doubt be preparing for them.

After he finished speaking, he carefully watched Kalma's reaction. He wasn't quite disappointed with what he saw. She certainly looked unnerved by the inevitable battles to come, but he could see a certain level of acceptance and even anticipation in her eyes. Although she wasn't quite the most courageous person he's ever met, he could tell that even Kalma seemed intrigued in knowing how this will play out from now on.

"I… I see," Kalma eventually said. She looked away from the captain and looked lost in thought for a moment. "Indra came by recently and told me a little about that, but he hadn't told me that much; he had been more focused on seeing how I was doing."

"Mm, to be expected of him…" the captain thought. He knew of the close bond between Kalma and Indra, like that of an older brother looking out for his young sister. Given Kalma's relative physical frailness compared to the other Holy Knights and her own emotional issues, this kind of comparison wasn't far off the mark. "So what do you think?" the captain then actually asked of Kalma. "As it is, I'm in no particular rush to instigate another battle, but I've always been one for taking the initiative. Will you be ready to fight if I were to call on you?"

Kalma looked surprised at his question. Taken aback, even given the severity of her facial reaction. But then the sixth seat steeled herself mentally and she gave her captain a firm nod. "Yes," she began. "If it's my power you need, then I will gladly offer it."

The captain allowed himself a small prideful smile. "That's good to hear. Very good…" He slowly stood now, having been sitting in the desk chair that he had moved towards her bed to speak with her. As he turned around to leave, he gave her a few parting words. "While I cannot say for certain you will be fighting very soon, do be aware that within the foreseeable future, you will be called on by me."

"Yes, sir!" Kalma answered strongly, speaking in a noticeably louder voice than the captain ever recalled hearing before.

"Good. Now please, continue to get some rest for now. Things will be getting busy soon enough." And it was with those parting words that the captain of the Holy Knights left the room.

Back at Beacon Academy, Ozpin had just finished up discussing the 'strange phenomenon in Atlas' with his old comrade James Ironwood. The general having left mere moments ago, the headmaster of Beacon was quick to lean back in his seat in a rare moment of unwinding, barely stifling a sigh of relief as he did so.

"As gung ho as always, wasn't he?" said the only other person in his office still, Glynda. With her arms folded across her chest and a deeper frown than usual, it was clear she hadn't exactly enjoyed the meeting with James anymore than Ozpin did. While she didn't exactly dislike the general, she wasn't all that keen on his way of doing things; brute forces tactics and aggressive investigation can only get one so far, especially in circumstances like this. That being said, the deputy headmistress was willing to give James some benefit of a doubt. "He does raise a point though, Ozpin. We will need to thoroughly investigate this matter. There could be a chance looking into the phenomenon caused by this Indra could help us locate where he went," she then said.

Ozpin pondered this for a while. She, and James before her, raised an interesting point. While James and the rest of Atlas by extension were not privy to the existence of magi much less these Holy Knights, they had no idea on how to locate them from the crowd. But as James pointed out, thanks to his own investigation, he detected some strange energy signature in the clouds themselves where the phenomenon had first occurred and it was with that in mind that the general had proposed perhaps thinking of a way to track it back to its source.

This idea certainly had merit, but Ozpin wasn't too willing to give it a try. For one thing, he knew very well just how powerful magi could be, especially his longtime comrades the ancient magi. That these two Holy Knights thus far were able to give them a good challenge was a great indicator of their power. And knowing James, if the tracking did work, the man would undoubtedly send in the entirety of Atlas' military force if he thought best and all that would accomplish is getting all of those soldiers killed. James was simply too gung ho a person to trust with the knowledge of magi and these Holy Knights. It's why Ozpin never told him of their existence and also why he shot down the idea. Of course, there was also always the simple fact that perhaps tracing Indra's mana, artificial as it is, back to where he's at would do nothing. After all, no doubt the Holy Knight knew there was a small chance he could be followed and decided to spread out the mana to throw people off. And there was always the chance that mana, being so different from aura, could simply not register on any radar anyway.

"I believe," Ozpin began to say to Glynda. "You know just why I'd turned down his suggestion of a joint task force, Glynda."

At that, his deputy headmistress let out a dissatisfied grunt. But it was clear from her body language and facial expression that she did indeed see his point. "I'm aware… still, I can't quite stand all of this secrecy from the world at large."

"I can sympathize. But if the rest of Remnant came to know of the existence of magi, there'd be no telling what could happen. Especially if they were to learn of how these Holy Knights managed to replicate the magi's abilities to an extent. It could potentially spark some new kind of arms race. And the world is filled with enough pain and suffering as it is…" Ozpin trailed off, looking out of his office window. For once, his hands remained free of his signature coffee mug, a sign as to how serious he was taking this.

The two of them sat in silence for a while longer before the silence was finally broken. "Well, this aside, lately we've been receiving some requests to send in teams…" Glynda began, pulling up her scroll.

"Mhm. Such as?" Ozpin asked, turning around in his seat to look at her as she now approached his desk.

"The usual, more or less. Grimm extermination," Glynda spoke as she scrolled through a number of messages she's received directly or indirectly from others. "It seems there are a few villages off to the north that have been trying to fight increasing waves of Grimm for the past few weeks. They don't know what's causing it, but lately they're started to take serious casualties." The stern deputy headmistress let out a tsk as she read over the casualty report that came with the request. It was always hurt her heart to see such things, but the surprisingly high numbers on this one really got to her.

"I see. Then I suppose we can kill two birds with one stone with this one…" Ozpin said.

Glynda perked up, intrigued. "In what way?"

"Send team RWBY to deal with this particular situation," Ozpin replied, reaching out and tapping on the very casualty report that Glynda was looking at. "And they will not be going alone either; see if either Miki or Ryuichi will be kind enough to go along with them."

Glynda looked rather startled. "Why send one of them along? While I don't exactly approve of sending a first year team this early in the year on a mission, why send one of the magi along? Team RWBY has been performing above average in my combat classes."

"Since they and team JNPR have volunteered to aid us and the magi in the coming battles against the Holy Knights… though certainly not of our own choice given they've been dragged into it…" Ozpin muttered, switching gears at the end there before getting back on track. "This will serve a good chance for the girls to see for themselves the kind of power the magi are capable of and therefore what the Holy Knights are capable of. Knowledge of one's allies is always key to battles, after all."

His deputy headmistress looked a little put off by the idea, no doubt thinking Miki's or Ryuichi's aid unnecessary, but ultimately she didn't complain. "Very well. I'll inform them later today and see if I can get them out there by tomorrow."

With a smile, Ozpin nodded in appreciation. "Thank you, Glynda. I believe that should be all for today too."

With a crisp nod, Glynda walked out of the office, leaving Ozpin alone.

The man then proceeded to look out of his window once more, his small smile giving way to a light frown. Although it was his intention to try and prepare his students for the threats out there in the world, he certainly hoped they didn't go biting off more than they can chew.

* * *

><p>And that's that.<p>

You can expect me to not neglect the Grimm either. While they will not be all that major a thing in this fic, the Grimm will be appearing from time to time and trust me, when they do, I'll be doing my best to ensure they're more than just meager cannon fodder.

Well, not much else for me to say here other than that it may be another week or so before the next chapter. Just depends on what comes my way in life, I suppose.

Until then, everyone. Take care!


	11. Chapter 10

Whelp, paid my graduation fee. Now to just pass this upcoming semester and pretty much do one last class during the summer… man, I can almost feel the degree literally being given to me. Hard to believe things have come this far. I'm sure I'll feel pretty… exuberant once I do graduate. Then again, I feel burnt out in regards to school already, so maybe I'll just feel tired by that point in time.

Anyways, that random bit of info aside, here's the new chapter guys. Really, not much more for me to say other than that once again I will be trying to keep a consistent updating schedule, but I can't exactly make any promises there.

Now let's get this started.

Chapter 10

At Beacon Academy, Naruto sat on the couch in the faculty lounge during lunch time, doing his very best to not sigh heavily. This was something he was failing at.

Across from him sat Hanako and Mari, with the former looking a little embarrassed while the latter simply looked to Naruto with some sense of pity in her eyes.

"So…" Mari began. "I've heard some interesting rumors since yesterday."

Naruto groaned. "Please… please don't remind me," he all but whispered. Hanako and Masami having sat in on one of his lessons has made quite an impression on all of his students and they went on to sit in on his other classes. Before the day had even ended yesterday, virtually the entire student body, from the newest of the first years to the seniors about to graduate, knew of the 'two buxom beauties' that pretty much hung around Naruto. From there, the rumor mill did its usual work and before it was even dawn today, it seemed like the entire academy was convinced Hanako and Masami were his mistresses or something. Already, he's had students of both genders approaching him before, after, or even _during_ class and asking about the two women. In response, Naruto naturally tried to deny anything and everything that the rumors were saying, but to seemingly no avail; everyone seemed convinced there was something going on between him and Hanako and Masami.

It hadn't helped when Masami had finally left Beacon Academy just sometime in the late afternoon yesterday, but not before she gave him a surprise hug and peck on the check in the middle of a classroom still filled with students.

"Sorry, Master…" Hanako mumbled apologetically. She had simply been so eager to finally see how her master taught his classes that she had done little to really help him pull damage control and in hindsight, some of the statements she made yesterday were just a tad bit… suggestive when taken out of their actual context.

In response to her apology, Naruto just groaned again, rubbing his forehead as if he had a migraine. In a way, perhaps this was slightly true. "If only Miki was here…." He bemoaned silently.

Earlier today, his wife had been asked by Ozpin to go along with team RWBY on a Grimm extermination mission in a village that was roughly half a day's travel away by dustplane. Usually, Miki was able to say just the right thing to help him get over things, but since she wasn't here now, her having agreed to Ozpin's request, Naruto was left to 'fend for himself' in a sense. Not to say that Hanako and Mari weren't pleasant company – that wasn't true at all – but still, he already missed his wife.

"Well, think about it this way, Naruto," Mari said with a cheerful smile. Crossing one leg over the other, she leaned back in her seat before speaking again. "What could possibly go wrong next?"

She was met with an expression of absolute horror from Naruto, whose eyes were now open in spite of being in his 'professor disguise' right now. "M-Mari… you have no idea just how much worse this could get," he replied.

Mari opened her mouth to refute that statement, only to stop as she recalled a number of events she and her husband have seen Naruto get into over the centuries. Like that time where half of a nation thought he was secretly sleeping with the king's wife when this wasn't true. Or that other time when an isolated tribe mistook him as the human form of their god and did what they could to try and keep him confined to their village. Or that other time when he was mistaken for having an entire brothel as his personal harem and ended up having a number of very jealous clients gunning for him for a time.

Indeed, it seemed like the price of becoming the true 'ultimate magus' was to be put into situations that breed one misunderstanding after another.

"…Okay, maybe, just maybe, you have a point there," the archer magus conceded a moment later, a sheepish look on her face.

"Hmm, but that aside, I wonder how this mission will go for Miki-chan and those girls," Hanako then said, changing the subject much to the inward joy of her master.

"This is Miki we're talking about, Hanako," Mari spoke with a grin. "If by some chance those girls can't handle it, she'll take care of the Grimm in no time."

"And I'm sure it won't come to that," Naruto now chipped, eager to get away from the previous topic. "Team RWBY, while a bit of a rowdy bunch in my class-."

"You mean just Ruby, heh heh~." Hanako said while slightly giggling.

Naruto shot her a look, but there was an amused smirk on his face. "Despite _their_ quirks in my class – especially Ms. Rose's – they're a capable team despite only being first years here. If or when Miki gets involved, it's going to be because she wants to, not because she has to," Naruto said, showing to the women before him a surprising amount of faith in team RWBY. "Granted, there is a chance of there being more Grimm than anticipated… but even then, I think those girls could handle themselves well enough; I've secretly sat in on some of Glynda's classes. They clearly know how to fight."

"Mhm, still it's nice to know Miki is basically back up for them," Mari said. Then her expression turned serious. "Though there's always a chance a Holy Knight or two could get involved…"

At those words, both Naruto and Hanako sported a grim expression. "Good point… but even then," Naruto said, a smile on his face. "My wife is the most powerful and skilled woman in the world. There's no way she's going to lose to any of these guys." One could almost literally feel his faith in his wife's combat ability.

Now Mari sported a fake hurt expression. "Eh, but what about me? Aren't I tough?"

"Hmm, yeah sure, just not as tough as Miki," Naruto said.

Mari pouted like a child, but there was a knowing twinkle in her eyes and Naruto had a similar look. They were just teasing one another and they knew it. Naruto knew full well that his best friend's wife was far from weak. He's seen her fight enough times to definitely know that fact.

"Ne, ne, Master," Hanako now spoke up, sounding a little excited. "What about me? Aren't I powerful too?"

Naruto looked to her, his expression completely blank. "Eh, don't know. Can't even remember the last time you fought," he said without hesitation.

Hanako's expression of shock and hurt was simply comical to look at. "E-Eh, Master?! And who's fault is that?" she nearly shouted, irate.

"Hmm, yours for not getting in on the fighting," Naruto casually replied.

"M-Muuu…" Hanako was on the verge of comical tears. "You're mean, Master…"

It was at the sight of a now comically depressed Hanako that Naruto and Mari both began to laugh, whatever worry they had for team RWBY's mission all but gone now. After all, just why should they worry? They were in Miki's good hands. There's simply no way Miki would ever let them down.

With Miki, the young(looking) woman was in the midst of some conversation with team RWBY as they were finally dropped off near the edge of the forest that surrounded the village they were heading to. More specifically, it was mainly Miki doing the talking as Ruby and Blake inquired her about her previous adventures, the leader of team RWBY being more enthusiastic about it than Blake.

"Whoa…" Yang eventually said after a brief period of silence. "T-That's pretty intense. Beyond that, actually…" For the first time in a while, the blond brawler found herself at a genuine loss for words.

This was because Miki had just finished describing the ritual known as Ragnarok that had taken place centuries ago when she and her husband and friends were only teens. As of right now, Miki had finished explaining the exact mechanics of Ragnarok and how some of the battles went.

To the side of Yang, Blake could be seen shaking her head, her cat ears – still covered up by her bow – twitching. "Just how could this Odin do such a thing? And why?"

"He did it for the person he loved," Miki said quietly.

That made the team perk up. "The person he loved?" Weiss asked, sounding almost offended. "He could've very well destroyed the entire planet, and it was done for the person he loved?!"

Miki slowly looked to Weiss, having to lower her head a bit to do so given the several inches in height difference. She nodded. "His wife died a long time prior to Ragnarok being implemented. The ritual was thought up in order to try and gain enough magical power to revive her," she explained.

"Rev-?! B-But how?" Ruby asked, captivated by what Miki has explained thus far. Despite how dark and grim this 'history lesson' was shaping up to be, it was most interesting to her. And since it was clear virtually all of the participants from back then are still alive, surely this story had a happy ending, right?

"That's a bit of a long story in and of itself…" Miki replied sheepishly.

Blake pulled out her scroll and looked up the map of the area. "We still have quite a distance to cover before we get to the village," she said as she put the scroll away. "I think we have time to hear more of this."

Looking at each member of team RWBY, Miki could tell that they were in a sense eager to hear the rest of this tale from long ago. So with a slight sigh, the buxom brunette proceeded to tell them more of the past. She spoke of what she had learned from the now deceased Katsumi, namely of the Fimbulvinter War that had occurred nearly a thousand years ago now in addition to how Odin, whose name was Tatsuya Namikaze, was related to that war. She also went on to explain how he awakened as a magus and what sort of abilities he had at his disposal. From there, she finished up her long winded lecture with how Ragnarok ultimately concluded, with her fighting Hanako while Naruto fought Odin and later ultimately managed to defeat him, but only after a long and desperate battle against the god-like magus.

By the end of it all, the all-girl team could only continue walking through the forest in complete and utter shock. Miki honestly thought it was a miracle that none of the girls tripped over their own feet in their current daze.

Ultimately, it was Ruby who managed to recover from her shock first. "That's just… wow…" Much like her older sister, the team leader was at a complete loss for words. What Miki had just told them was unlike anything she ever could've imagined. It was one thing for her and friends to learn of the existence of magi and what sort of abilities they could have, but it was another thing entirely to hear of this Ragnarok ritual and the sort of abilities that Naruto's ancestor Tatsuya commanded.

"I kinda always knew Professor Namikaze was tough…" Yang began. She started to shake her head, completely dumbfounded. "But beating that guy… it's just _unreal_."

"But, I can't believe that this Odin guy could ever have been so powerful," Weiss now chipped in. "Or that he went through… well, all of that too," she finished lamely, referencing the Fimbulvinter War that Miki had spoken of earlier.

"But what has my attention now," Blake began, directly addressing Miki. "Is this 'Fortissimo' spell that your husband said he used to overwrite the world after defeating his ancestor. Does he still have that ability?" She sounded rather wary and Miki couldn't find it in her to blame the Faunus huntress-in-training; indeed, the level of power Naruto now had was simply unreal, even greater than his ancestor's and by a considerable margin.

"From what he's told me, no. The Fortissimo spell was a one-time ability, born from the immediate absorption of Tatsuya ji-san's mana and abilities." Miki paused thoughtfully for a moment, taking that time to look forward and see they were now nearing the village. Scanning the surrounding area for the Grimm that the request said were supposedly swarming the forest, she continued to speak. "Though he still naturally retains Tatsuya ji-san's abilities and mana gained from him and Second Access."

Weiss could only shake her head in disbelief. If Tatsuya or Odin was he was once called was already so god-like a magus, then she couldn't even begin to imagine the sort of power Naruto had at his disposal. "Just how do you do it, Mrs. Namikaze?" the Schnee heiress inquired, addressing Miki very formally. "How do you deal with the fact that however powerful you are, your husband is in a league far out of reach of you and the other magi combined? I mean, he has enough power to destroy the world a dozen times over. At the very least, it'd be so easy for him to simply use his abilities to rule the world, unfettered. So just how do you live with this?"

Miki actually looked surprised at the question, having never really been asked such a thing before. But almost as quickly as the surprise had come, it had vanished. The brunette magus began to lightly laugh. "Easy; because no matter how powerful Naruto is or how much more powerful he could probably become… I know that the power will _never_ go to his head. For as long as he's lived and will live, he'll never abuse the power he has." Miki's reply was almost instantaneous and without even the slightest waver in her voice. Such was the faith she had in her husband.

Her response made the team paused mid-step for a brief second, their minds boggled by how easily the magus had replied and how certain she had sounded. "You know," Yang began with a grin. "You're one hell of a wife. Seriously, I'm impressed by your faith in him." And the blond meant every word. She considered herself to be a very good and perhaps even noble person, but if she had as much power as Naruto, she honestly couldn't imagine herself simply hiding her abilities from the world like Naruto and the other magi have been doing, let alone solely use such abilities for the good of others.

Miki beamed at the compliment. "Thank you. And he's a hell of a husband too," she responded.

At those words, Yang's grin took on a more… unsavory quality, such that her sister and other teammates almost visibly flinched; Yang was about to say something stupid, awkward, or both. "Reeeeeaaaallllyyy now?" she drawled out. "'Hell of a husband,' eh?... So does that mean he's a real 'wolf' in bed?" she teased. "I bet you two had quite a few kids."

"Y-Yang!" Ruby stuttered out, an embarrassed yet indignant look on the younger girl's face. "Y-You shouldn't be saying that kind of stuff!"

"How shameless!" Weiss threw her own two cents in, looking most annoyed at what Yang had said. With those few statements, the situation had changed from serious to this… mockery of comedy, if the blush on Miki's face was anything to go by. She tried not to think too much of said blush.

"W-Well," Miki began. "We did have a few kids, yes and not too long after we had married and gotten… a-ahem… intimate…" She admitted. She played with her hair a bit, looking away from the girls, especially Yang.

Yang could only laugh. For such a powerful person that's been around for centuries, it seems that Miki was surprisingly easy to tease. "Sooo… he's pretty good then, I see. _Very _good, actually if your reaction is anything to by."

Miki didn't say anything further, her blush deepening. She slowed her walking pace down so that she was now walking next to Yang. She gave the blond a light punch with her right hand, a pout on her red face. "Y-You shouldn't be teasing your elders," Miki muttered quietly.

Yang would've probably laughed off Miki's words if she didn't nearly go flying off into the distance; Miki's 'light' punch was still above the level of what hunters and huntresses could ever hope to achieve. It was honestly a sheer miracle that Yang's arm didn't break. So it was while rubbing her now very sore arm that Yang actually smiled apologetically. "R-Right, sorry…"

"You mentioned having kids just now," Blake spoke up, deciding to step in just in case her partner decided to make things worse again. "Were any of them magi as well?"

At that question, Miki's blush disappeared and she appeared to be a bit more solemn. "No, not really… And the few that did have innate magical abilities never awakened them so they died a natural death at the same age range any non-magi die at."

At that, the entirety of team RWBY winced. It was clear that Miki and Naruto as well genuinely loved their family. So for their children and most likely all of their descendants to pass away – thankfully peacefully – while they, the progenitors of the family, lived on, well, team RWBY could only imagine the kind of emotional pain this fact must have caused.

"…I'm sorry. I didn't meant to stir up any painful memories," Blake said softly, looking down.

"It's alright," Miki replied, holding her head up high, wiping away the tears that had begun to form at the very corners of her eyes. "Naruto and I loved our children and grandchildren greatly and did our best to be there for them. They all grew up happy and ended up doing very well for themselves in their lives. And while Naruto and I eventually had to leave our descendants be to avoid the questions that would come of us still being alive and youthful looking, I know that they all did the best they could at everything they did. As it, my husband and I are just happy to know that so far, all of descendants had lived good lives and had passed on peacefully…"

The magus paused for a moment as a bittersweet smile graced her beautiful face. "And besides, it's not as if our family line has ended just yet; it's still ongoing. Though our surname of Namikaze eventually gave way to a new family surname following the end of the shinobi era and the rise of Remnant, we're content with that. And we do try to keep an eye on them, albeit from afar. So in the end… it's not too bad."

The teens walking alongside her could only look at the magus in something akin to awe. It was clear that being blessed with a long lifespan and regenerative capabilities and youthfulness clearly had their downsides as far as having non-magi relatives went. But Miki and Naruto were taking it all so very well. Each member of team RWBY could only imagine the strength of will needed to carry on through such a drawn out 'tragedy,' especially after all of these centuries.

"You know," Miki began, snapping the team out of their deepening thoughts. "This also reminds me of Kiyomi baa-chan's words as well."

"K-Kiyomi…?" Weiss spoke up uncertainly.

"Tatsuya ji-san's wife," Miki said. "Remember how I said Naruto talked to here during the battle with Odin? Well, Naruto remembers word for word what she said to him and vice versa. And when he told me later on when we found out our children were going to die of old age before us… it made a huge impression on me…." She paused for a bit, recalling the words. "Kiyomi baa-chan said that people naturally have the power to survive and move on, no matter what. That in the face of sadness, in order to truly overcome it, you need hope. You need happiness… but above all, you need to smile truly."

With a smile that would make even angels look upon her in awe, Miki stopped walking for a second to look at the girls before her. "And that's exactly what Naruto and I and the others did to get by these past few centuries and how we'll continue to live with ourselves until our own natural deaths; hope and happiness. No matter how dark times may become, we have to hope for the best and do our best as well to see to it that things reach a happy ending. And when that happy ending does come… above all, we have to smile."

The team could only look at Miki in awe. Clearly this was more than just some kind of sudden pep talk; this was something straight from the heart. "…She sounds like a wonderful person," Ruby eventually said, smiling.

Miki nodded. "Yeah…" She then pointed straight ahead. "We're close to the village now. Let's pick up the pace a little."

And so the five of them proceeded to travel the rest of the way in silence towards their destination, team RWBY mulling thoughtfully over what Miki had just said. Looks like there was indeed a lot to be learned from the magi.

Elsewhere, Indra was currently walking alongside someone as he headed for Kalma's room to check up on her.

"You sure dote on her," said the person Indra walked with.

"But of course. She's like a sister to me," the young man replied. He then turned to face the person walking alongside him.

It was none other than his fellow Holy Knight Lugh. Being roughly four years older than Indra, Lugh was something of a surprise, his body being slim yet well-muscled in such a way that it contrasted somewhat from his surprising good looks. With fair skin, faded gold eyes, and short and trim blue hair, it was clear to anyone who gazed upon him that he was certainly a unique individual.

And now the Holy Knight looked to Indra, his gold eyes devoid of emotion. "Hmm… I see. Somehow such affection suits you."

That got a snort out of Indra. "I'm going to take that as a compliment."

"Of course. Why would you take it otherwise?" Lugh commented, stretching his arms for a moment to try and alieve them of some of the tension and pain he built up from training so hard earlier. Lugh spent a great deal of time doing just that, but although he should be used to such a heavy strain, the sheer intensity of his training often left him feeling in pain for a while.

"Heh, now if only that could be said about you," Indra muttered. In the time he's come to know Lugh, he's discovered the somewhat older Holy Knight to be just a tad bit standoffish. It would be easy to chalk up such behavior to arrogance or something similar, but it was far from the truth; Lugh was simply a bit ant-social is all. That one thing aside, Lugh did have strong bonds with his fellow Holy Knights and as such, Indra's words weren't spoken with ill will. He had simply been stating what he believed to be a fact.

Lugh rolled his eyes a bit as he and Indra continued walking towards Kalma's room. "Well, that aside, looks like things will be spicing up soon, yes?" he asked of Indra.

The seventh seat nodded. "It'd seem so. For now, it looks like the captain wishes for Kalma to rest up first before we really get the ball rolling. After all, even after becoming a Holy Knight, she is still frail. Relatively speaking."

At that, his fellow Holy Knight nodded in agreement. "As is expected; if I recall correctly, she's been something of an ill girl prior to meeting the captain. And the modifications that made us Holy Knights doesn't exactly cure everything. But at least, she is no longer sick."

Indra could only nod, unable to speak for a moment as he thought on that. Back before Kalma was a Holy Knight, she had been deathly ill. Her family was far from a good one and her being a Faunus made it difficult to get the treatment needed to cure her for good. But the process they had to undergo to become Holy Knights helped change that, curing her of her illness permanently, though some traces of the illness still remained for now. And this was why she was confined to her room for now; her body was still relatively weak and as such, it won't be until the lingering traces of her illness disappear for good that she'll be able to truly move around.

That being said, this worked in Kalma's favor considerably as she wasn't too keen on being out there in the world. It also helped that her Relic – what their 'magical weapons' were called – allowed her to battle without having to lift a finger on her part. As long as she had enough mana to do so, her Relic will function for as long as she commands it.

Still, even with these facts in mind, Indra worried. They were, after all, going to be battling against the ancient magi, who were heads and shoulders above normal magi. Against such powerful and skilled warriors, Kalma would be dangerously exposed to danger given her lack of physical ability and combat skill.

"Indra."

The seventh seat was gently roused from his thoughts by the subtle shaking of his shoulder by Lugh. "You really need to stop being such a worrywart, kid," the fifth seat said with a ghost of a smirk. "If you keep this up, you'll only end up making the girl worry over you instead."

For a good few seconds, Indra simply looked to Lugh, his face indicating incomprehension as his mind was still leaving behind its current train of thought. It wasn't until they finally reached the hallway leading to Kalma's room that the 'junior' Holy Knight responded to his 'senior.' "Hmm, I suppose you have a point there…" Indra smiled slightly and did so with downcast eyes. "Still, you can't exactly blame me for doing so, right?"

"No, I suppose not." Lugh admitted this without any hesitation as he came to a stop. Visiting Kalma had never been his intent; he had simply been walking and talking with Indra up until now. And it was about time he took his leave. "But do try to at least worry a little less about things. It'll only come to bite you in the ass if you let it get to you."

"I know that better than anyone…" Indra all but whispered as Lugh gave him a two-fingered salute before leaving. The seventh seat watched in silence as Lugh headed back the way they had come.

It wasn't until the fifth seat was nearly out of sight that Indra finally continued his trek towards Kalma's room.

Meanwhile, back at Beacon Academy, classes were finally ending for the day. Several hours have come and passed since Naruto hid out in the faculty lounge. And now it was with the sun setting that the students of Beacon took to roaming about the campus for a while, hanging out with their friends or going into town for some last minute pick ups.

There were four exceptions to this though: none other than team JNPR.

Their thoughts still heavy with what they've learned about magi and these Holy Knights, the four first years had opted to simply head back to their dorm, too mentally drained to try and go elsewhere for anything. But even then, lounging around their room, it was proving to be a hard task to unwind.

"Sooo…" Nora, ever the lively one of the bunch, began. Sitting on her bed, the girl dangled her legs around energetically. Of the four, it'd appear she was the one the least affected by the recent revelations. "What are we gonna do, you guys?"

"Not sure what we can do," Jaune spoke up. Having been sitting on his bed, he let himself fall back onto it with a sigh. "I mean, I've been thinking of what we could possibly do to help… but I'm drawing blanks."

"Considering the lack of concrete information on these Holy Knights, that's to be expected," Ren then said. Usually the silent member of the team, these past several hours have seen him verbally interacting more with his teammates as they discussed the magi and Holy Knights. Although he hid it very well behind his mask of calmness, he was just as worried as well over what could come next. Just hearing about the sort of things magi were capable of was a mind-boggling thing on its own, but now that he's had time to really try and think of the sort of mechanics involved with their abilities, he became acutely aware of the comically massive gap in ability between them and the magi, especially the ancient magi. As far as he could tell, Ren doubted he nor his friends and team RWBY would make much of a difference in any conflict involving magi, even if they did have an element of surprise involved.

Pyrrha could only look back and forth between her teammates, a frown adorning her face as she took note of the great worry they had. Sparing a brief glance to Nora, she saw Nora doing the same thing as her, though her gaze lingered longer on Ren than herself or Jaune.

"Well… there's always a chance, right?" the redhead eventually managed to say. She too was feeling unsure about getting involved, but she resolved herself to do what she could anyway. Who knows? Perhaps the smallest of efforts on her and her teammates' part could help save lives.

"Yeah! Pyrrha's got a point!" Nora exclaimed, pointing excitedly to her female teammate in an attempt to try and lift the spirits of the guys. "We can't just throw in the towel just yet! We have to try and break some of their legs first before we give up!"

Her attempt worked. Somewhat.

"Maybe so, Nora," Ren began, looking to his longtime friend. "But realistically, there's only so much we'd be able to achieve on our own in this conflict. And considering the kind of abilities the magi and these Holy Knights most likely have, it'd take a miracle for us to not be killed early on in the crossfire."

His words were blunt to a fault, but alas he made a valid point. It was enough to make Nora down in shame while Pyrrha simply settled for looking out the sole window of the room, a grimace on her face.

"…But you know what?"

Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren turned to look at Jaune. The blond leader was sitting up again and was looking directly at them with unwavering eyes. "I think we should try our best anyway. Nora's got a point; we won't know what we could accomplish unless we give it a shot in the first place…" He paused, stumbling over his words near the end there it seemed as he tried to organize his thoughts. "Now I know that we have long way to go before we're strong enough to make an actual difference – _especially_ me when compared to you guys and everyone else – but if we don't try to help, then who else will? I mean, we're training to be hunters and huntresses here. We're supposed to be the heroes, the kind of people who never run away from the enemy when lives are at stake… so isn't about time we try and act like it?"

"Well said!" Pyrrha spoke, a smile on her face now.

As for Nora, the girl was all but literally bouncing in place in glee while Ren slowly came to sport a smile. Their leader's pep talk may have been short and a bit on the quiet side, but it certainly helped to lift their spirits.

But even as the spirits of his teammates and friends were lifted, Jaune's smile was nothing more than a façade right now. Even as he spoke, he found himself filled with great doubt. Ren had made a very good point: the magi and Holy Knights were simply on a whole other level compared to hunters and huntresses. Just how can they, hunters and huntresses in the making, hope to compare to that? As someone who had to forge a transcript just to get into this academy, this fact was hitting the blond leader particularly hard.

Already, there were news reports on the destruction of the port and seeing the stilled frames of the sort of destruction caused by, according to Blake, simply a fist fight between Ryuichi and this massive Holy Knight she saw, it went without saying that a simple graze on their part would instantly kill guys like him.

Jaune, still watching his teammates who now began to act more at ease, had to suppress an inward grimace; for quite some time now, it seems as if he's beating himself up too much about his strength and skill or rather his significant lack thereof. And he was growing rather sick of thinking so much on this.

"I have to try harder…" he thought. Yes, he certainly would have to try even harder. Not simply for the sake of living up to his family's name, not just for his friends, or even for the sake of his own self-esteem at this point, but for the sake of innocent lives. After all, with the sort of destruction this magi and Holy Knights could cause, it'd be very likely for people to lose their lives as a result, especially if a battle of such a magnitude were to occur near or in a populated area. So if nothing else, he could improve his own abilities enough to lend a helping hand to anyone unfortunate enough to get caught up in such battles.

And he knew for a fact that those battles will be coming soon enough. And so resolving himself yet again to do his best to improve, Jaune ultimately decided to turn in for the day much earlier than usual. He had a lot of training to do tomorrow, so he's going to need all the rest he can get.

Back with the Holy Knights at their base, Indra had been in the midst of some light conversation with Kalma. The seventh seat was smiling slightly; he was glad to see that Kalma's condition was improving. Already, the pale girl's skin had regained some of its long lost color and the sixth seat herself seemed to have a bit more energy about her than before as well.

However, the good mood that was set in the otherwise cold and dreary room came crashing down when the young girl suddenly froze. It was such a minute action on her part given how little she already move around, but it was still enough for Indra to pick up on immediately.

"Kalma? What's wrong?" he asked with a hint of concern as he sat up from his seat.

Kalma gazed away from her friend and looked elsewhere, though Indra couldn't fathom what. Deciding that it'd be best to simply wait for the girl to speak on her own, the Holy Knight remained silent.

Sure enough, his patience was rewarded. "I'm… not exactly sure. But it has to do with Surma."

"Ah…" Indra nodded in understanding.

Kalma's Relic was very unique, an impressive thing to boast of considering the sort of things the other Holy Knights' Relics could do. Whereas her fellow Holy Knights' Relics were in the form of weapons, hers was more in the form of a sentient creature, born from the modification process she underwent to become a Holy Knight in the first place. That creature's name was Surma and it had something akin to a psionic link to its 'owner' or 'wielder.' By no means were the two of them necessarily capable of telepathy, but through this link, both remained aware of just where the other was at all times. It wasn't a perfect link, but it gave them both enough 'feedback' to get a feel for the general area.

That aside, Surma, like all other creatures, can be more than a little restless when not turned to a more stationary form by Kalma's direct command. As such, it required some freedom to move about as it pleased. None of the Holy Knights, not even the captain himself, had a single problem with this restlessness of it and therefore easily allowed Kalma to let her sentient Relic travel about wherever it wants. The sole condition was that it will stay hidden from humans and Faunus and not reveal itself unless it felt threatened. Given the power it had, this was something that doesn't exactly happen all that often.

And it was because of these facts that Kalma was now so attentive to the link they shared.

Surma was feeling threatened.

"He…" Kalma began, sounding shocked. "He feels scared."

Indra's eyebrows nearly shot up into his hairline. "What? How can that even…?"

The sixth seat of the Holy Knights could only helplessly shrug in response. "I don't know. But there's no way it can be one of the ancient magi, right? In whatever area Surma's in, there is literally no way any of them can be there; there's no reason for them to even be _near_ there!"

Seeing that Kalma was beginning to get a little too agitated for her own good, Indra immediately calmed himself down and now tried to placate her. "A good point," he began neutrally, placing a hand gently on Kalma's shoulder. "In which case… it's probably the Grimm. You and I both know how Surma can get sometimes; every now then, he just likes to go and fight other creatures. So he's probably just stumbled across a particularly large horde of Grimm or something and did something to provoke them instead of… you know, working his power over them."

Kalma stared up at him blankly, but managed to nod after calming down. "Y-You're right. I'm probably just worrying too much given the circumstances."

"Yeah… tell you what, how about I head out now? You're looking a little too tired still," Indra spoke, now removing his hand from her shoulder and proceeding to stand up.

"Okay," Kalma replied. "Thanks for coming to talk with me."

"It's always a pleasure," Indra said, now heading for the door. "Get some rest."

After seeing Kalma nod, he left the room, gently closing the door behind him before actually walking away. It wasn't until he reached the end of the hallway that he finally allowed a frown to appear. He's seen firsthand the sort of power Kalma and Surma have, both individually and when fighting together. Therefore, he was well aware of how powerful Surma is. There's no way it'd be so suddenly intimidated by the Grimm. Perhaps in very large numbers, but he highly doubted that.

"Guess I'll go mention it to the captain…" Indra thought aloud.

Yes, this was clearly something unusual. The captain should know about this right away. He just hoped that whatever the captain would decide to do afterwards, he'd keep it under wraps; Indra didn't want Kalma to get too upset.

Elsewhere, more specifically in a deserted location near the village team RWBY and Miki had been heading for, a beast stirred, almost frightfully so.

Hidden by the now fully formed veil of the night, the beast emitted a low growl. As if in response to the growl, slowly yet surely a number of Grimm spread throughout the forest began to make a trek towards it.

Earlier today, this beast had detected team RWBY arrive on the outskirts of the forest. But it wasn't their presence that really grabbed its attention. No, noticing their presence had really been nothing more than a mere afterthought. What had really grabbed the creature's attention had been the arrival of who had accompanied team RWBY: Miki.

The creature couldn't help but actually shiver even as it continued to call out for more Grimm. Originally, it had traveled out the way to this area to have some 'fun' in the form of sending some Grimm out to mess with the village nearby. But now with the arrival of Miki, that had changed. 'Born' with the ability to instinctively know exactly how powerful someone or something is, the beast knew right away that Miki surpassed it in power and by more than just a small margin too; it hadn't felt that way since it first acquainted itself with its owner's comrades, the one dubbed Heracles and Apophis.

Furthermore, in yet another display of intelligence, the beast also knew that if its presence became known to Miki, the centuries old magus wasn't going to let it simply walk away from this if she discovered what it was or more specifically the sort of people it was loyal to. To this end, there was really only one thing to do: gather up as many Grimm as possible and throw them all at Miki and team RWBY. In doing so, perhaps it would create an opening good enough for it to suddenly swoop in and take out Miki in one move.

With this 'plan' in mind, the beast known as Surma continued to call forth more Grimm in preparation of tomorrow.

* * *

><p>Phew, another chapter done. Can't believe we're now ten official chapters in. At the rate this is going, the fic is going to be considerably longer than its prequel the God Slaying Wolf. Such a thought pleases me; I've always wondered just how long can I make a fic while still hopefully being able to keep the quality consistent.<p>

Whelp, not much else to really say other than I will be going back to college on the 19th so hopefully I can get another chapter or two out before then!

Until next time everyone. Take care.


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